NexusLIMS: A Laboratory Information Management System for Shared-Use Electron Microscopy Facilities

Presently, the management and the processing of research data produced by scientific instrumentation is a significant challenge. Electron microscopy researchers work with different make and model of microscopes and detectors, and with these, data produced in various (sometimes proprietary) formats. Users often implement ad hoc strategies to curate and disseminate this data. Often, data and the context under which they were acquired is irrecoverable beyond the few published images in journal articles.

To capture microscopy data consistent with the FAIR data principles, we built NexusLIMS, a laboratory information management system managing microscopy output across two NIST campuses. While this example may be microscopy-specific, many of the components and concepts within are extensible to data produced by other instruments. We will show additional data infrastructure components that are co-integrated with NexusLIMS, such as central file servers, schedulers, and compute resources, and how this integration has nucleated an ecosystem for research data.