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TeselaGen Glossary

A list of the main concepts and terms used on TeselaGen

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Written by Daniela Alvarez
Updated yesterday

Contents of this Article


General terms

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

Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN)

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.


Molecular Biology Toolkit

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.


Lab Inventory Management System

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.


Workflows and Automation

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.


Interoperability

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.


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