ICM-Scarab

ICM-Scarab is a flexible Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) developed by MolSoft in collaboration with scientists at the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC). It is designed for research teams in structural biology, bioinformatics, and cheminformatics who need to capture, integrate, and mine both structured and unstructured scientific data within a single, unified platform.

At its core, ICM-Scarab combines an Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) with powerful data capture, query-building, and reporting capabilities. It interfaces intelligently with Oracle and MySQL databases, allowing scientists to interact with complex database architectures without requiring administrator intervention or modifications to the underlying database structure.

Flexible Data Capture and Database Integration

• Capture structured and unstructured data simultaneously in the same environment without sacrificing data mining flexibility
• Present databases to users in an intuitive fashion without needing to modify the underlying database structure
• Seamlessly build and run complex queries across multiple database architectures
• Intelligently interfaces with Oracle and MySQL databases
• Built-in compound searching capabilities for cheminformatics workflows
• Fine-grained editing of data across tables
• Bulk uploading of data supported

Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN)

• Intuitively write up and document experiments within the platform
• Embed and annotate images directly within notebook entries
• Embed Excel spreadsheets and PDF files
• Attach external files to experiment records
• Set permissions at the project level to control access
• Named users may write and collaborate on experiments simultaneously
• Export experiments by saving as PDF or printing
• Upload data by direct import, manual entry, or modification within spreadsheet or form view environments
• Validate entered data against defined business rules

Query Builder and Data Mining

• Present databases in the way scientists naturally think about their data
• Unique and flexible query and report builder that scientists can use themselves without administrator support
• Save queries for future use and publish them to other users
• Chain queries together to form more complex, multi-step queries
• Use queries as the basis for entering or modifying data
• Export query results to Excel, CSV, or SDF formats where applicable
• Use query results directly within ICM or convert them into lists for use in subsequent queries

Integration and One-Stop-Shop Capabilities

• Full integration with MolSoft's standard functions for structural biology, bioinformatics, and cheminformatics
• Directly and seamlessly interact with and leverage multiple databases from a single interface

ICM-Scarab runs on Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux, requiring a minimum of 100 MB disk space and 1 GB RAM (2 GB recommended). The server component requires a MySQL server running on the network, making it suitable for both small teams and larger collaborative research environments.