Products & services · Software

LabSci

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences moved its laboratory notebook workflows into LabSci, and our software also runs for other clients, including UW Veterinary Care and Maine DOT. Your first step is a thirty-minute conversation with an expert.

LabSci is a laboratory information management system (LIMS) built natively on Microsoft Dataverse and the Power Platform, and configured to your laboratory’s own workflow when no packaged system fits. Samples, tests, equipment, and reports share one record. It is also the platform under VetSci and DOTSci. The first step is a conversation with one of our laboratory informatics experts.

For the laboratory that outgrows every packaged LIMS.

THEN · ONE RUN, SCATTERED EQUIPMENT RECORDS A man in white overalls pushes a wheeled rack of five large stoppered glass carboys into the open door of a horizontal steel autoclave fitted with pressure gauges and pipework; stacked crates fill the room behind him. Archive photograph, 1943.
Digitally rendered from the archive photograph: Same hall and autoclave doors; a stainless rack of sealed media bottles replaces the 1943 carboys, and a single gauge and a touch-screen controller replace the bank of dials and valves. NOW · EQUIPMENT BESIDE THE RESULTNOW · DIGITALLY RENDERED
Fig. 1 Sterilizing solutions in an autoclave, Detroit, 1943. The autoclave, its gauges and the run it is about to make belong on one record. LabSci keeps each instrument beside the results it produced.
THEN · 1943 · Library of Congress · NOW · digitally rendered THEN · 1943 · Arthur S. Siegel · Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives · no known restrictions on publication · loc.gov/item/2017858635 NOW · digitally rendered from the archive photograph above (Gemini 3 Pro Image, 2026-09-26): the room geometry, the camera and the people's positions are the photograph; everything else is generated. Not a photograph.

Opens your print dialog. Choose Save as PDF.

01Who this is for

For laboratories that no packaged LIMS fits

LabSci is for laboratories that no packaged system was built for, such as these.

  • research cores
  • environmental and public-health laboratories
  • forensic laboratories working to ANAB-aligned configurations
  • food and agricultural testing laboratories

We configure LabSci to your workflow in the Understand phase, our fixed-scope, on-site study of how your laboratory works. LabSci is also the platform under VetSci and DOTSci, our two industry products.

On our practice and problem pages

LabSci appears on these practice and problem pages, next to the other approaches each page weighs.

Practice pages

Problem pages

Not for Clinical laboratories that test human patients. What LabSci is not →

THEN · THE DAY IS KEPT ON THE BENCH A young woman in a white coat looks into a monocular microscope at a dark bench; two wooden boxes of glass slides, a handwritten note, a pencil and small reagent bottles sit beside a microscope lamp, with a water bath and tubing on the counter behind. Archive photograph, 1942.
Digitally rendered from the archive photograph: Same dark bench, same slide racks; a modern microscope, a monitor showing the slide and a barcoded requisition replace the 1942 microscope lamp and the handwritten note. NOW · THE DAY IS KEPT IN ONE RECORDNOW · DIGITALLY RENDERED
Fig. 2 A laboratory technician at the microscope, Provident Hospital, Chicago, 1942. The slide boxes, the note and the water bath are one laboratory’s record of its day. A laboratory that fits no box still keeps one.
THEN · 1942 · Library of Congress · NOW · digitally rendered THEN · 1942 · Jack Delano · Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives · no known restrictions on publication · loc.gov/item/2017829088 NOW · digitally rendered from the archive photograph above (Gemini 3 Pro Image, 2026-09-26): the room geometry, the camera and the people's positions are the photograph; everything else is generated. Not a photograph.

02The problem

What a laboratory does when no packaged system fits it

Some laboratories look at the packaged systems for their field and find nothing that fits. A research core runs more methods than it has instruments. An environmental laboratory changes its sampling plans with the season. A forensic laboratory must hold its configurations to ANAB requirements. The choice seems to narrow to a custom build or a packaged system forced out of shape.

Other laboratories do sound work on a scattered record. Samples sit in a spreadsheet, results in the instrument software, and calibrations in a binder, while reports are assembled by hand. The science is sound, but the trail behind it is hard to follow.

Then an assessor asks where a sample was, which instrument ran it, when that instrument was last calibrated, and who signed the result. The answer comes from four places, and meanwhile the IT department wants nothing new to administer.

03How we help

From sample receipt to reporting, all connected in one record

LabSci models your laboratory the way it actually runs. A request arrives and samples are registered under it, on a study or a plan where one exists. Tests are created against the samples and land on the worklist of the person assigned. Results are entered, validated, and reviewed before the report is released to the people who asked for it.

Equipment, calibration, metrology, and preventive maintenance sit beside the tests they qualify, so an instrument’s state is on the same record as the result it produced. Locations say where every sample is, and labels print from the record itself.

The product documentation builds every record from five concepts.

  • Request: the work that comes in, and who owns it
  • Sample: the physical or logical specimen, tracked through processing
  • Test: the procedure run on a sample
  • Result: what the test measured or derived
  • Report: what goes to the people downstream

Your laboratory’s own configuration can add fields, statuses, integrations, and sequencing rules on top of these.

Fourteen modules, named as the application names them

The grid follows the application’s own navigation, in its order. A module is a named area of the application. What each one does in your laboratory is configured in the Understand phase.

  • My Work

    The worklist a bench scientist signs into shows what is assigned, what is due, and what is waiting on review.

  • Sample management

    A sample is a physical or logical specimen tracked through processing, and its subsamples and containers follow it from receipt onward.

  • Study management

    Studies group requests, samples, tests, and results into one record with its own status.

  • Reporting

    Reports for the people downstream are reviewed and released here.

  • Equipment

    The instrument and asset register keeps status and service history.

  • Calibration

    Calibration schedules and records are tied to the equipment they qualify.

  • Metrology

    Measurement standards carry the traceability behind each calibration.

  • Preventive maintenance

    Scheduled upkeep is planned and recorded before anything fails.

  • Plans

    Sampling and testing plans drive what the bench sees.

  • Locations

    Buildings, rooms, freezers, and positions show where every sample is.

  • Labels

    Barcode labels are designed and printed from the record itself.

  • Questionnaires

    Structured questions capture the answers a fixed form cannot hold.

  • Standardization

    Controlled vocabularies and shared reference data apply across every module.

  • Reference controls

    Reference materials and controls are managed alongside the tests they check.

Audit history, role security, and controlled records are administered through existing Dataverse features.

How work moves through LabSci: five stages on one path A path runs left to right through five numbered stages. 01 Receive, sample and custody, uses modules A, B, J and K. 02 Register, the sample on its study, uses B, C, I and L. 03 Test, results on the worklist, uses E, F, G and H. 04 Review, results signed off, uses A, M and N. 05 Report, the template released, uses D. Beneath the path a lettered key names the fourteen modules: A My Work; B Sample management; C Study management; D Reporting; E Equipment; F Calibration; G Metrology; H Preventive maintenance; I Plans; J Locations; K Labels; L Questionnaires; M Standardization; N Reference controls. 01 Receive sample and custody A·B·J·K 02 Register sample on its study B·C·I·L 03 Test results on the worklist E·F·G·H 04 Review results signed off A·M·N 05 Report template, released D Modules, as named in the application AMy Work BSample management CStudy management DReporting EEquipment FCalibration GMetrology HPreventive maintenance IPlans JLocations KLabels LQuestionnaires MStandardization NReference controls How work moves through LabSci: five stages on one path A path runs left to right through five numbered stages. 01 Receive, sample and custody, uses modules A, B, J and K. 02 Register, the sample on its study, uses B, C, I and L. 03 Test, results on the worklist, uses E, F, G and H. 04 Review, results signed off, uses A, M and N. 05 Report, the template released, uses D. Beneath the path a lettered key names the fourteen modules: A My Work; B Sample management; C Study management; D Reporting; E Equipment; F Calibration; G Metrology; H Preventive maintenance; I Plans; J Locations; K Labels; L Questionnaires; M Standardization; N Reference controls. 01 Receive sample and custody A·B·J·K 02 Register sample on its study B·C·I·L 03 Test results on the worklist E·F·G·H 04 Review results signed off A·M·N 05 Report template, released D Modules, as named in theapplication A My Work B Sample management C Study management D Reporting E Equipment F Calibration G Metrology H Preventive maintenance I Plans J Locations K Labels L Questionnaires M Standardization N Reference controls
Fig. 3 Receive, Register, Test, Review, and Report happen on one record, and the letters point to the modules each stage uses.

Leadership

If you run the laboratory

You are not choosing between a custom build and a box. LabSci is configured to your workflow in the Understand phase and delivered one proven step at a time, with the platform’s upgrade path underneath. We sell only what we can show you working.

Implementation is scoped after the Understand phase. After go-live, Sustain is a Service Level sized to your laboratory and priced per year.

Bench

If you work the bench

My Work is the screen you sign into. It shows what is assigned, what is due, and what is waiting on review. Registering a sample prints its label, and the location record says which freezer and which position. A result entered against a test carries the instrument that ran it. “Where is it?” takes one lookup.

QA

If you review and sign

Audit trails, role-based access, and controlled records are platform features, configured to your SOPs from the start. The product documentation sets the rule for the record itself: “Each transition should be auditable and reproducible from server-side state.”

Three least-privilege security roles ship with the product (Basic User, Sample Authorizer, and Testing Permissions), and your own roles are configured above them. ANAB-aligned configurations for forensic laboratories are set up the same way, and accreditation stays with the laboratory. Calibration and reference-control records sit with the tests they qualify, so an assessor’s question is answered from one record.

IT

If you administer the tenant

LabSci ships as managed Dataverse solutions, in your tenant or hosted by SynapticSci. Every change moves through three environments (development, user acceptance testing, and production). Only managed solutions move downstream.

  • Licensing is Power Apps per user for the model-driven apps, plus Dataverse capacity.
  • A documented installation path lets your own administrators install it.
  • Release notes come with every deployment.
  • Sign-in is Entra ID, with MFA where your tenant enforces it.

We build on Microsoft’s platform, and we cite its certifications as Microsoft’s. Instrument interfaces are delivered per instrument, per laboratory. Trust, validation, and IT →

04Method

Understand your laboratory first, then build one proven step at a time

We start with a fixed-scope on-site Understand phase, then build one proven step at a time, so your laboratory sees a working result before committing further. The four phases are Understand, Build, Adopt, and Sustain, and How we work describes each.

In the Understand phase your laboratory’s way of working becomes the specification. We document your methods, sample types, equipment, and the exceptions the bench handles every week before anything is configured. Each step is then built, adopted, and improved in Sustain, which covers the years after go-live.

The delivery loop: Understand, Build and Adopt, then Sustain A closed loop carries three numbered stages: 01 Understand (the hypothesis), 02 Build (the experiment) and 03 Adopt (the analysis). Three gates sit on the loop between them: stories confirmed, accepted in UAT, and the next step begins. From Adopt a branch leaves the loop for 04 Sustain (the conclusion), labeled in production and ongoing. The spark brandmark sits at the center with the words Scientist-Driven Development and the line the loop continues, step after step. Pulses travel the loop and the branch; they are left out when reduced motion is preferred. 01 Understand 02 Build 03 Adopt 04 Sustain the hypothesis the experiment the analysis the conclusion STORIES CONFIRMED ACCEPTED IN UAT THE NEXT STEP BEGINS IN PRODUCTION · ONGOING SCIENTIST-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT the loop continues, step after step Understand Build Adopt Sustain The delivery loop: Understand, Build and Adopt, then Sustain A closed loop carries three numbered stages: 01 Understand (the hypothesis), 02 Build (the experiment) and 03 Adopt (the analysis). Three gates sit on the loop between them: stories confirmed, accepted in UAT, and the next step begins. From Adopt a branch leaves the loop for 04 Sustain (the conclusion), labeled in production and ongoing. The spark brandmark sits at the center with the words Scientist-Driven Development and the line the loop continues, step after step. Pulses travel the loop and the branch; they are left out when reduced motion is preferred. 01 Understand 02 Build 03 Adopt 04 Sustain the hypothesis the experiment the analysis the conclusion STORIES CONFIRMED ACCEPTED IN UAT THE NEXT STEP BEGINS IN PRODUCTION · ONGOING SCIENTIST-DRIVENDEVELOPMENT the loop continues, step after step
Fig. 4 The delivery loop, with the scientific method in italic, from Understand through Build and Adopt into Sustain.

05Platform

One platform under every product, with your configuration on top

LabSci is built natively on Microsoft Dataverse and the Power Platform, so it can run in your organization’s own Microsoft tenant, or we can host it for you.

VetSci and DOTSci install as product layers over LabSci. Your laboratory’s own configuration lives in a client solution above both, so product releases do not overwrite your work. Every installation runs three environments (development, user acceptance testing, and production), so each change is tested before it reaches your laboratory.

06Evidence

Where LabSci runs today

Claim At the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, laboratory notebook workflows moved into LabSci.

Mechanism Requests, samples, tests, and results share one Dataverse record in LabSci.

Artifact The institute’s own screens, shown in a conversation with its permission.

Result National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences · LabSci · laboratory notebook workflows moved into the platform.

See the record →

07Boundaries

What LabSci is not

  • Instrument interfaces are built per instrument and per laboratory.
  • The module names come from the application’s navigation. How each module behaves in your laboratory is configured in the Understand phase and shown working before you commit further.

08Pricing

A subscription, then Sustain, then the project

Table 1 LabSci license and hosting prices by item, the same as on Pricing. Each is its own annual price.

Per year · minimum commitment twelve months · effective 1 October 2026. License and hosting are separate prices, and no combined figure is stated. Hosting: hosted by SynapticSci; none when self-hosted in your own tenant; requires the matching LabSci licence.

ItemLicenseHosting
Lab Userper named Lab User$2,346$305
Designer/Adminper named Designer/Admin$4,691$611
Portal, authenticated usersper pack of 100 authenticated portal users$3,892$3,053
Portal, anonymous visitorsper pack of 500 anonymous portal visitors$1,348$1,145

Implementation is scoped after the Understand phase. Sustain is priced per year on a twelve-month minimum, and its prices are on Pricing.

Migration is its own project, and you choose how much history moves.

  • No migration
  • Active data plus a year of history
  • Everything

We price migration after we have seen the source system. Talk with an expert to work through implementation and migration for your laboratory.

After go-live: Restore, Improve, Commit

Is it broken? We fix it under Coverage, which is included with your license. Is it working but could be better? We improve it with your Service Level. Is it something new with a date and a definition? That is a project, scoped, priced, and committed separately. Sustain, the years after go-live →

  • Article ·

    A LIMS User Interface Can Make or Break Your Lab

    Laboratory Modernization

    In today’s fast-paced laboratory environments, efficiency, ease of use, and accuracy are paramount. Yet, many laboratories grapple with poorly designed and older Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) that hinder, rather than help, their operations.

    Pete Nadolny

All Lab Notes

Talk with an expert