Try out Plate Maps

Benchling plate mapping is a useful tool for planning, visualising and registering your plate experiments:

• You can add multiple layers of annotations and values to create a digital record of your plate experiment.

• You can insert the resulting map in your ELN and navigate through the different variables in the wells.

• You can access or search the plate data stored the inventory.

Example of layers of annotations in a plate map

Before starting

Before creating the Plate Map, make sure the contents you want to fill the plate with are registered and containable (see note for list of containable entities). You can also add those entities to a worklist to facilitate filling up the plate in bulk.

List of Containable Entities

List of Benchling entities that are containable - i.e., can be added into containers (Bottle, Cryovial, Well, etc.):

• Analytical Submission Sample

• Cell Line Batch

• Cell Line Design

• Commercial Material

• DNA Fragment Batch

• Strain Batch

• Plasmid Batch

• Fermentation Culture

• Generic Sample / Cell Pellet

• gDNA

• Medium Prep

• Nanopore Sequencing Submission Sample

• Primary Cell Batch

• Primer

• Primer Pair Mix

• Protein Batch

• Protein Sample

• Proteomics Submission Sample

• Stem Cell Batch

• Timepoint Sample

Get started

Watch the following video to learn how to create and use a Plate Map directly in your Notebook entry.

Summary of the steps:

1. Create a plate map

   To create a plate map, you can insert it into a Notebook entry (as showed in the video), or create it within the Benchling inventory:

        Notebook entry > "Insert" > "Plate Map"
   

   or

        Benchling Navigation Bar > "Create (+)" > "Plate" 
   

2. Choose the fixed plate type

   Choose between 6-well, 12-well, 24-well, 48-well, 96-well, or 384-well plates. Designate a location in the inventory, or fill other fields for that plate schema.

3. Annotate the wells in the plate

   Select multiple wells at once by dragging the cursor or by using the shift key, or fill wells individually.

   • Add the well contents from the registry or from your worklist.

   • Assign roles to the wells: samples, controls, blanks or standards.

   • Add additional labels with the Well schema fields: Treatment and Dilution Factor.

4. Specify the concentrations and volumes of your contents

   Indicate the values for the contents filling up the plate in your experiment: total well volume, stock concentration, transfer volume and well concentration.

If you have any question, don’t hesitate to contact us at lims_support@biosustain.dtu.dk.