Glossary

Lab: A shared and secure work environment between different users within the application. Every data or information stored within the scope of a Lab is only accessible within it.

j5: TeselaGen's proprietary DNA assembly protocol generator, originally developed at the Joint BioEnergy Institute. It automatically designs PCR primers, calculates melting temperatures, and generates build instructions optimized for cost and speed.

Toolkit: A collection of integrated tools grouped by laboratory function (e.g., Molecular Biology Toolkit, Materials and Inventory Management Toolkit). Each toolkit contains specific features and workflows.

Electronic Laboratory Notebook: A digital record where researchers document experimental plans, observations, and results. Part of organizing and automating experiments.

Entry: Individual notebook records in the ELN where experiments are planned and documented.

Assembly Report: The output from the j5 protocol generator that breaks down a design and provides the input pieces, oligos, and PCR reactions needed to assemble it in the lab.

Combinatorial Library: A collection of DNA constructs where multiple design variants are systematically combined to explore different genetic configurations.

Digest Part: DNA parts that are sourced with appropriate flanking digest sites for assembly methods.

Direct Synthesis Firewall: A design directive indicating where synthesis should be used instead of assembly.

Gene Stack: Very long constructs combining multiple genes, often used in applications like developing plant variants.

Hierarchical Design: A design capability particularly useful for DNA assembly strategies like MoClo, allowing users to break down very long target designs into buildable submodules.

Part: Reusable DNA design components based on sequences, used as building blocks for larger constructs.

Aliquot: A specific partition of a sample or another aliquot; often a single well or tube portion. Aliquots are held within plates/containers and have physical information such as volume, concentration, and mass.

Sample-Aliquot: The first aliquot created from a defined sample.

Replicate-Aliquot: Any further aliquots made by dividing a sample-aliquot.

Barcode: A unique identifier assigned to plates or tubes for tracking within inventory and workflows.

Batch: Used to group materials in the app and link them to associated jobs. When a batch is active, only inventory items (plates/tubes) associated with that batch are viewable.

Material: The entity representing biological content (DNA, RNA, proteins, reagents, microbes) in the system.

Plate: A multi-well container used to hold multiple samples/aliquots for experiments and automation. Plates have defined formats (e.g., 96-well).

Sample: A physical instance of a material located in a container. The first instance of a new batch of a material, either formulated (created by combining two other samples) or registered (newly entered into the system).

Formulated-Sample: A sample created by combining two other samples together, with sample formulation entries tracking the inputs and their quantities.

Registered-Sample: A sample that was newly registered into the system rather than created through formulation.

Tubes and racks: Alternative physical containers for samples. Racks hold collections of tubes.

Data Table: Structured representations (tables) of data, often imported via CSV/Excel, used by tools like sequence association or pooling.

Placement Strategy: Automated system for finding locations in freezers for plates and tubes.

Plate Map: Defines the assignment of materials to plates' wells.

Reaction Map: A structured representation defining how input materials (e.g., DNA, reagents, cultures) combine or transform into outputs during a workflow (e.g., assembly, transformation).

Tools: These are tools in the Tools Library that automate specific lab tasks. Every one of these tools refers back to core concepts like plates, worklists, and materials.

Workflow: A defined process that executes a series of tasks or tools, subordinated to a Request from a hierarchical point of view.

Workflow Management Toolkit: A toolkit for creating and executing predefined sequences of tasks (workflow definitions) that automate laboratory processes.

Worklist: A CSV or TXT file with commands consisting of individual lines with data and instructions for liquid handler machines. Generated automatically by TeselaGen tools for lab automation.

Assay: An experimental procedure used to measure or study an assay subject.

Interoperability / Integration: Features that let the TeselaGen platform connect with external APIs, custom services, or vendor systems (e.g., Twist ordering, IDT ordering).

Measurement: Data captured from experiments, associated with a specific unit and dimension.

Measurement Unit: The unit system (metric or imperial) associated with each measurement.

Measurement Dimension: The dimensional category of a measurement (e.g., "time" for seconds, "density" for g/L).

Descriptor: Variables or features in a dataset used to characterize samples or designs in experiments.Descriptor Variables or features in a dataset used to characterize samples or designs in experiments.

Metadata / Column Types: Definitions that give meaning to columns in experimental datasets.