Use Cases for Laboratory Protocols

The following use cases were developed by the Laboratory Protocols group.

Findability

As an user, I will like to search for protocols according to:

• availability of reagents and/or equipment in my lab, also
• the sample to be tested, and/or
• the overall objective of the protocol.

Searching for protocols using these four elements helps me (as an user) to decide on the suitability of the protocol(s) that should be executed during an experiment or assay.

Summarization

As an user, whenever I look for a lab protocol (A.K.A experimental protocol), I would like to see a quick summary with information related to: the sample to be tested (e.g. whole organisms, anatomical parts, biomolecules, body fluids), the list of equipment (including standard and high-throughput equipment, consumables), the software used, the list of reagents (e.g. bought ready-to-use, solutions or mixtures prepared in the lab, media, buffers, kits), the overall objective of the protocol (to know about the suitability), the protocol identifier (that helps me to find a protocol) and the license.

Link to external resources

As a user of a protocol I would like to know where could I buy equipment and/or reagents used in a particular protocol. Rationale: For this reason, it is important to include information about the manufacturers, catalog number and homepage of equipments and reagents.

As a user, I would like to know previous uses/applications of a protocol; who has used it, who has built derivations of it, are those derivations related to the sample, instrument, reagent or objective?

Finally. As a user of the protocol I would like to know where is the data derived from the application of the protocol - if publicly available then where?’