Software components

Field Information Management System (FIMS) - GEOME

A field information management system, or FIMS, is used to store information relating to fieldwork (e.g. specimen records, collecting events, identification, etc.) The SI Barcode Network uses a cloud-hosted FIMS called the Genomic Observatories MetaDatabase (GEOME), available at https://geome-db.org/. All that is needed to use the GEOME FIMS is a spreadsheet program (Excel, Google Sheets, etc.), and a browser (Firefox, Chrome, etc.).

Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS)

A laboratory information management system, or LIMS, is used to both store laboratory sample data and manage workflows relating to lab and sequence analysis. The SI Barcode Network uses the Biocode LIMS Plugin (developed by Biocode, LLC.) within Geneious Prime. A wiki containing information on the plugin and an online manual can be found at https://github.com/biocodellc/biocode-lims/wiki.

Geneious Prime Software Program

The SI Barcode Network uses Geneious Prime (a Biomatters Ltd software package) to run the LIMS, sequence assembly, and submission to GenBank portion of projects. Geneious Prime is a cross-platform (works equally well on Windows, Mac, and Linux) program that provides a simple GUI (Graphical User Interface) to many classic molecular biology tools in a layout similar to an e-mail client. Geneious Prime is a commercial software that is not free, but the Smithsonian has a floating institutional license available to users within the Smithsonian network. Find more information about Geneious Prime at their website: http://www.geneious.com/.

A set of detailed instructions on the core functions within Geneious Prime, including videos and other tutorials, can be found here.