Teams inside a company
A team inside a company works in Magpie alongside the company's own systems.
Research groups and labs
The lab books its instruments, counts its reagents and checks its freezers in one place. Its protocols, code and papers are there too.
The lab works in one Magpie team. A co-author at another university can be given just the paper you share.
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This combination of six Magpie areas fits a research group.
- Notes
- Notes keeps the lab's protocols where everyone at the bench can find them.
- Resource Booking
- Resource Booking books the shared instruments, such as the confocal.
- Inventory
- Inventory counts reagents and antibodies, with lot numbers and expiry dates.
- Daily Operations
- Daily Operations schedules the freezer readings and the lab's regular checks.
- Git Repositories
- Git Repositories holds the analysis code, with every commit.
- Documents
- Documents is where the lab writes its papers with co-authors.
Every protocol is a note the whole lab can search.
Notes keeps each protocol as a team note, in Markdown with tables and checklists. Everyone in the lab can open it.
Search looks through the lab's notes and your own at once. A checklist line can become a To-do, such as ordering more agarose.
Everyone books the confocal before they use it.
Resource Booking holds the lab's shared instruments, such as the confocal and the plate reader. Each one has its own rules, such as the longest booking and cleanup time after it.
An instrument can need your approval before a booking stands. Reports show how much of its open hours each one was used.
You know what is in the cold room, and what is running low.
Inventory counts reagents, antibodies and plastics in each place they are kept. An item can keep each delivery's lot number and expiry date.
Items below their minimum become draft orders to each usual supplier. An order over a total you set waits for your approval.
The freezer readings are taken on time, and a bad one is followed up.
Daily Operations gives the lab a round of checks, such as the -80 freezers. Each reading is kept with its limits and who took it.
A reading outside its range opens an incident. The incident lists what to do and a reading to take again.
The analysis code keeps every change, and can be public with the paper.
Git Repositories hosts the lab's code, cloned and pushed over HTTPS with a token. The repository's page lists each commit with its author.
A repository can be public, so anyone can read and clone the code behind a paper. Its README is shown as its front page.
Co-authors comment and suggest changes on the same draft.
Documents is where the lab writes its papers, with footnotes and numbered figures. A list of references can follow the text. Suggested changes wait until someone accepts them.
A co-author at another university can be given only that paper, to review or edit. The finished paper exports to Word or PDF.
Six more areas cover results, instruments, projects, slides, reading and hiring.
- Spreadsheets
- Spreadsheets holds results tables, with formulas such as XLOOKUP and FILTER.
- Asset Tracker
- Asset Tracker records each instrument's serial number, location and maintenance.
- Kanban Boards
- Kanban Boards follows each project, from the first experiment to submission.
- Presentations
- Presentations holds the slides for lab meeting and journal club.
- Bookmarks
- Bookmarks keeps the lab's reading list, with tags and a note on each paper.
- Hiring
- Hiring gives a postdoc position its own page, with every applicant in one list.
A project goes from a protocol to a published paper.
The protocol
The method is written up as a note the lab can find.
The bench
The instruments are booked, and reagents come out of stock.
The freezers
The freezers holding the samples are read on schedule.
The analysis
The scripts are pushed to the lab's repository.
The paper
Co-authors review the draft, and the code is made public with it.
Setting up takes four steps.
Add the instruments
You set each one's hours and rules. Help: Add resources and set their hours and rules.
Add the reagents
You record what is in each fridge and freezer. Help: Keep track of stock.
Set up the freezer checks
You add each freezer with its limits. Help: Record temperatures.
Write the first protocol
You write it as a team note. Help: Write and organize notes.
Plans
A lab fits the Team plan, which has 25 member places. A co-author given one paper joins as a guest, and takes no place. Prices are on the Pricing page.
Other people who teach and study have pages of their own.
Teachers and small schools
A school or a teacher runs classes, coursework and the parents' newsletter.
Questions research groups ask
Can people book the confocal for a set time?
Yes. Each instrument has open hours and a longest booking. It can keep setup and cleanup time free around each one. Magpie checks every booking against them, and against the bookings already made.
Can a booking wait for my approval?
Yes. An instrument can be set to need approval. Each request then waits until you approve or decline it.
Can we see how much each instrument is used?
Yes. Reports show each instrument's booked time against its open hours, between any two dates.
Can we track antibody lots and expiry dates?
Yes. An item can record a lot code and an expiry date with each delivery. Its page lists each lot in each place, with its expiry date.
Can we order from our usual suppliers?
Yes. Each supplier has a list of what you buy from them, with their codes and prices. Magpie emails each order to the supplier. A delivery that arrives short is recorded as it arrived.
Can the -80 freezers be checked every day?
Yes. A routine asks for each freezer's reading when it is due. A reading outside its range opens an incident, with what to do next.
Can a collaborator at another university edit our paper?
Yes. You can share the paper with them to review or to edit. They see that paper and nothing else in the lab's team.
Can we publish our analysis code with the paper?
Yes. A public repository has a page anyone can read without signing in. Anyone can clone it, and only people with write access can push to it.
Can researchers from another lab book our instruments?
Yes. You can invite them to the team as guests with Resource Booking only. A guest takes no place on the plan.
Set up your lab in Magpie.
Create a Magpie account and make a team for the lab.