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3.2.1 Home page
As shown in the schematic diagram above, the Quansoft Home page is the starting point for an
experiment, providing quick links to all of Quansoft’s most important features. Direct links into the
different editor functions allow the user to quickly create a new experiment, re-run a previous
experiment, edit a program or to analyse new or existing data. Basic maintenance and filter
changing functions can also be performed from links on the Home page.
3.2.2 The Editors
Quansoft consists of four editors: the Program Editor; the Plate Layout Editor; the Experiment
Editor and the Results Editor. These fit together to allow the creation, editing and analysis of a
real-time-PCR run. The first three, as shown above, are part of the experiment setup and allow the
user to set up the assay parameters. The Results Editor meanwhile, provides a platform by which
to view the results and to change or specify parameters for the analysis post-run and report
printout.
3.2.2.1
Experiment Editor
The Experiment Editor acts as a ‘shopping basket’ into which the components of the experiment
are gathered i.e. the program, plate layout and the analysis parameters. It provides a summary of
the setup thus acting as a gateway to browse, create or edit elements of the experiment. In
essence, the role of this editor is to simplify the management of the experiment protocols and to
provide a starting point for initiating a run on PrimeQ. Both the Plate Layout and Program Editors
can be accessed from the Experiment Editor, and when combined with a set of analysis
parameters, will produce a report of the results once the data has been collected. A copy of the
experiment can be stored as a template thus allowing the easy routine analysis of a specific
project. Experiments may also be shared between users with data from each user stored
individually as a Results file. These files are saved in a
.qres
format.
Quansoft’s Experiment Editor
acts as a ‘shopping basket’ for
the
components
of
an
experiment.
3.2.2.2
Plate Layout Editor
As its name suggests, the Plate Layout Editor defines the plate layout for an experiment. The 96-
well plate can be left empty or assigned with blanks, controls, user-defined standards or test
samples, which are all colour-coded for ease of identification. If need be, the well layout can be set
up or changed after the run has completed and the data for analysis can be included/excluded
using the right click flagging function.
