Thanks everyone for your responses. I've tried to summarize the suggestions and feedback from this thread:
- This was a very small sample size, but overall ConturELN (http://www.contur.com) from Accelerys was the most popular option, followed by Labguru (http://www.labguru.com). Two others were mentioned, ELN from biochemlabsolutions.com and PiMS (http://pims.structuralbiology.eu). Google docs was also suggested as an option. ConturELN - It was mentioned that there is no client for MacOSX for ConturELN, but there it going to be a web version available very soon that will correct for this problem. - Contur was stated to be simple to use, and not too sophisticated. - Contur is primarily cloud based, so the data is not stored locally. I believe there is a server option available, however it appears to be significantly more expensive. - Cost for the cloud based platform is 10$/user/month. Labguru - from Chen Guttman " cloud-based ELN and laboratory management solution. This tool encompass the management of experiment and projects, connects between experiments and individual samples, manages the different storage facilities down to the single tube and inter-connects the knowledge base of your labs (protocol, articles) to every experiment/project" - free accounts are available but lack the sharing capabilities offered by the lab platform, which costs 12$/user/month. ELN from biochemlabsolutions.com - data is stored on your own servers - free license - I tried this software in our lab and had two other test it as well and we all found it hard to use. There are also some annoying bugs so we have already scratched it from our list of potential platforms. PiMS - from the website description: "PiMS has features to support work on ORF Targets and Complexes, including primer design, cloning, expression and protein purification. PiMS records data for Targets, Constructs, Samples and Experiments. Customized workflows are created with Protocols -configurable, reusable Experiment templates." Anastassis Perrakis sat on a committee two years ago to select an ELN for the NKI. Here is a link to his reponse in full as I believe it is worth reading for those considering a move to an ELN system: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=ind1201&L=ccp4bb&D=0&P=201318 Seiji On Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:28:35 -0500 Seiji Sugiman-Marangos <sugim...@mcmaster.ca> wrote: > Hi, off-topic question regarding electronic laboratory notebooks. Our > lab is planning on moving from paper to digital record keeping and I > was wondering which of the available ELN platforms are being used by > the ccp4 community. > > We are primarily a crystallography lab but we would also need some > versatility in the platform as some of our lab members are more focused > on biochemistry. > > Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated! > > Thanks, > Seiji
