OpenFreezer

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OpenFreezer
OpenFreezer logo.jpg
Developer(s) Marina Olhovsky, others
Initial release Start date unknown
Discontinued

3.2  (Release date unknown)

[±]
Preview release none [±]
Written in PHP, Python
Operating system Cross-platform
Type Laboratory informatics software
License(s) GNU General Public License v3[1]
Website openfreezersoftware.lunenfeld.ca

OpenFreezer was an open-source laboratory information management system (LIMS) designed to help biological laboratories with reagent tracking and workflow design.

Product history

It's not clear when development first began on OpenFreezer, but a SourceForge project was started by developer Marina Olhovsky on July 18, 2011[2], followed by a file release two days later.[3]. According to the documentation page of the OpenFreezer demo site, the following releases have been made, though when they were released is unknown: 1.1.2, 1.1.3, 1.2, 1.3, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1[4]

The most current release is assumed to be version 3.2, release date unknown.[5] In February 2014, the developers placed a message on the site's front page that a new version was anticipated for "the end of 2014, and [it] will include batch reagent creation."[6] However, that update has not been realized as of August 2020.

As of October 2023, the openfreezersoftware.lunenfeld.ca and openfreezer.org websites are both dead. There is no news for almost 10 years on the software, and though the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute in Toronto still has a web page showing they use the software[7], its status as a publicly available, routinely updated open-source solution is presumed discontinued.

Features

Features of OpenFreezer included[5]:

  • reagent and chemical management
  • reagent and chemical tracking
  • reagent-centered workflow tools
  • project management
  • user-based security

Hardware/software requirements

Requirements for proper installation of OpenFreezer included:

  • MySQL version 5 or later
  • PHP version 5 or later
  • Apache web server
  • Python version 2.4 or later
  • BioPython
  • ReportLab
  • Overlib

Refer to the installation and setup guide for more information.

Videos, screenshots, and other media

  • The user guide (archived; PDF) had extensive information, including screenshots of the program.

Entities using OpenFreezer

Further reading

  • Olhovsky, Marina; Williton, Kelly; Dai, Anna Yue; Pasculescu, Adrian; Lee,John Paul; Goudreault, Marilyn; Wells, Clark D.; Park, Jin Gyoon; Gingras, Anne-Claude; Linding, Rune; Pawson, Tony; Colwill, Karen (2011). "OpenFreezer: A reagent information management software system". Nature Methods 8 (8): 612–613. doi:10.1038/nmeth.1658. PMID 21799493. 

External links

References

  1. "OpenFreezer - Download and Install Instructions". Marina Olhovsky. http://openfreezersoftware.lunenfeld.ca/download.html. Retrieved 26 August 2020. 
  2. "OpenFreezer". SourceForge. http://sourceforge.net/projects/openfreezer/. Retrieved 02 October 2012. 
  3. "OpenFreezer - Files". SourceForge. http://sourceforge.net/projects/openfreezer/files/. Retrieved 02 October 2012. 
  4. "OpenFreezer - OpenFreezer Documentation". Marina Olhovsky. http://openfreezersoftware.lunenfeld.ca/demo/OpenFreezer/docs.php. Retrieved 26 August 2020. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 "Manual For OpenFreezer Version 3.2" (PDF). Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital. December 2011. http://openfreezersoftware.lunenfeld.ca/open_manual.phphp. Retrieved 26 August 2020. 
  6. "OpenFreezer". Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital. February 2014. Archived from the original on 02 September 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140902050509/http://openfreezer.org/. Retrieved 26 August 2020. 
  7. "Biospecimen Repository and Processing Lab - Standard Operating Procedures". Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute. 2023. https://research.lunenfeld.ca/bsr/?page=812. Retrieved 11 October 2023.