Samples vs Subsamples 🧪
Updated
RSpace Inventory is domain-agnostic and we aim to provide a system that is flexible and enables all researchers to accurately record their work. This means providing a system to support researchers who use singleton samples that are not divisible, as well as researchers who work with sample batches and aliquoting.
To enable this, we make use of two concepts for differentiating your experimental items: Samples and Subsamples. Understanding the difference between these two items and how they are related is core to utilising Inventory effectively.
The table below provides a summary of these two concepts:
Sample | Subsample | |
Summary | A concept that groups related items based on their shared characteristics | Representation of a physical item that can be moved between containers |
Relationship | A sample can have many subsamples, or be used to represent an indivisible item by only having one subsample | A subsample always has a parent sample, that describes its shared characteristics with its sibling subsamples |
Metadata | Is based on a sample template, which are used to easily create samples with the same metadata schema | A subsample can have specific metadata and notes to indicate any differences from its sibling subsamples, e.g. in how it was processed |
Location | Samples do not have a physical location as they're a conceptual grouping. Each subsample of a sample can be placed in a different location. The "move" action on a sample is a shortcut for moving all of its subsamples as a batch. | Subsamples represent physical items, and always have a location: either a container or a user's bench. |
Quantity | Samples display a total quantity which is made up of the sum of its subsample quantities. | Subsamples have quantities that are editable per-subsample, and contribute to the sample total quantity. |