Motivation: Modern automated laboratories need substantial data management solutions to both store and make accessible the details of the experiments they perform. To be useful, a modern Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) should be flexible and easily extensible to support evolving laboratory requirements, and should be based on the solid foundations of a robust, well-designed database. We have developed such a database schema to support an automated laboratory that performs experiments in systems biology and high-throughput screening.
Results: We describe the design of the database schema (AutoLabDB), detailing the main features and describing why we believe it will be relevant to LIMS manufacturers or custom builders. This database has been developed to support two large automated Robot Scientist systems over the last 5 years, where it has been used as the basis of an LIMS that helps to manage both the laboratory and all the experiment data produced.