A Prototype Software Tool to Comprehensively Address the Routine Biochemistry Laboratory Computations

Students and others beginning work in a life sciences laboratory are generally not at ease in designing experiments and performing necessary calculations for the preparation of reagents and test solutions. Some of the difficult points include the preparation of buffers at the right molarities and pH and the serial dilution of test compounds to achieve desired final concentrations. Valuable time and large sums of money are spent on experiments, therefore, a fool-proof method that precludes human errors in the design of the experiment and the preparation of the reagents is desired. The software tool, developed by the author and referred to as “Prototype-A-1” in this communication, meets this goal to a larger extent. The user of this software tool enters only readily available variables into the program and performs no prior computations. Modification of the basic dilution equation to facilitate the programming of serial dilutions is one of the major accomplishments of this program. Some important functions of the program are: (a) to generate custom instructions for the preparation and dilution of solutions with minimum inputs from the user; (b) to provide 25 custom buffer calculators; (c) to provide a protocol-writer for writing protocols for cell culture testing, antibody titrations, compound assays and animal experimentation. In this program, in all cases, the user enters only numbers from the keyboard or the keypad and selects units from the keypad menu. The user can enter stock and final concentrations in different standard units. The program requests the molecular weight of the compound when required and performs the necessary conversions. The program verifies the serial dilution instructions for accuracy by calculating the dilution factor from the mixing instructions of the output. In most cases of the queries, the output includes a display of the actual calculations. Windows 10 or higher operating system is required. The results of the queries and protocols generated can be saved as Microsoft Windows documents. The saved documents can be retrieved also by Microsoft’s word, WordPad and Notepad. A free trial version of the software tool is available at github.com/bbassa9824/Prototype-A-1/releases. Downloading instructions are given in the “Results and Discussion” section of this preprint. A video demonstration of program, including downloading instructions is available at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN4uF3VfIeQ