Revvity Signals Research Suite - 2024 Updates

The Signals Research Suite is a complete, integrated data capture, processing & analysis SaaS software for scientific research. Capture, manage, and share experiment data, notes and research findings in a secure and accessible environment built on the foundation of Signals Research Platform.

Releases By Year

What's New

This version 24.10 release of Signals brings a series of enhancements to the ChemCharts capability in Signals Inventa, to the Search Tables in Inventory, to privileges in Signals VitroVivo and to workflows in Signals Synergy. We have added some more options for admin configuration including new Measures and Naming Sequences, along with an ability to let users overwrite calculated values in Tables. We have added a new beta capability for an animal management app in Signals VitroVivo, which is available on request. Finally, we have also fixed a number of small bugs.

The following improvements are available for users, administrators and developers on the Signals platform. Certain features may only be available with appropriate licensing and/or with enablement by an administrator.

  • Fundamentals
    –    Replace contents of a Text Element
    –    Spotfire Connector Microsoft SQL available
     
  • VitroVivo
    –    Animal Selection & Group Assignment App with Randomization capabilities (beta)
    –    New privileges to manage Grid Plate Editor designs, Data Import and Calculations Explorer templates
    –    New privileges to access Signals VitroVivo Apps in the Spotfire for Signals Apps page
     
  • Inventa 
    –    Integrated Summary App now accepts more separators in criteria (copy/paste from CSV)
    –    Support for MDL RXN format
    –    Antibody Developability Data Functions in ChemCharts
    –    Cluster Card Visualization in ChemCharts
    –    Kinome Visualization in ChemCharts
    –    Enhancements to exact match substructure search in ChemCharts
    –    Quick structures search in ChemCharts
    –    Smart cells can be used in a control in form-based visuals in ChemCharts
    –    Formatting preserved when exporting to Excel in ChemCharts
     
  • Synergy 
    –    Notifications for the CRO user 
    –    Quick Add for easy addition of chemicals to Chemical Drawings in Synergy Experiments from chemical databases and External Chemical sources enabled for CRO users
    –    Download Work Order Reference Tables to SDF or CSV
     
  • Admin Defined Tables & Variation Tables
    –    Allow users to overwrite calculated values
     
  • Inventory
    –    Update to Status on Containers Search Table
    –    Search and Export Locations with Sub-Location from Containers Search Table
    –    Add and Print Container Descriptions on Labels
     
  • Administration
    –    Addition of Length and Area Measures
    –    Insert attribute list value into Naming Sequences
    –    Search for events made by System in Admin Audit Trail
    –    Spotfire for Signals privileges available
    –    Spotfire for Signals Custom Apps Configuration available for Private Cloud
    –    ChemDraw Preferences chirality setting is now observed with ChemDraw (vNext) renderer in Inventa
     
  • Integrations & APIs
    –    API Endpoint for fetching Synergy Work Types
    –    API Endpoint for fetching Synergy CRO, CRO Department information, and Collaborations
    –    External Notifications for Synergy Creation and Signing Events
    –    SDF API Endpoint for retrieving measurements data

We also fixed several small bugs in this release. Details of the enhancements are described below.

The following OnDemand videos for Signals Notebook End Users are now available

  • Principles for Populating a Materials Library by Asset

Administrators are recommended to subscribe to the channels within our support news site found at https://support.revvitysignals.com/hc/en-us/categories/360004446171-Support-News which contains more information about releases and other pertinent product information.

This content is anticipated for release on our Production E3 environments, and for Private Cloud customers on our deferred release schedule, in March 2025.

 

Further Details 

The following improvements are available for users, administrators and developers on the Signals platform. Certain features may only be available with appropriate licensing and/or with enablement by an administrator.

Fundamentals

End users can now replace the contents of a Text Element using a new text file.

Spotfire Connector Microsoft SQL is available within Spotfire for Signals.  Data Connection information must be embedded in analysis file.  Authoring, editing, and creating new is supported in Spotfire for Signals Analyst while Spotfire for Signals Online can consume existing. 

VitroVivo

Administrators can grant Data Import Templates, Calculations Explorer Templates and Grid Plate Editor Designs management permissions to specific User Roles:

These management permissions allow publishing and deleting Templates or Designs shared in Signals. The users without these permissions will not be allowed to publish or delete Templates or Designs in Signals.

Users without these permissions will not see the buttons allowing them to publish or delete in the respective Apps, as illustrated below in the context of the Data Import App:

Administrators can also grant access, or not, to the Spotfire Screening Apps to specific User Roles:

Users without this permission will not see the Apps in Spotfire for Signals, as shown below for the Data Import App.

 

Inventa

The Integrated Summary App now supports tabs, commas, and paste from Excel as inputs with the “Is Any Of” search criteria

Inventa now has improved support for MDL RXN content, including compatibility with Structure Rendering, Structure Filtering, Structure Copying, and Exporting to ChemDraw for Excel

Inventa’s ChemCharts introduces a major upgrade including two new visualizations, new antibody data functions, enhancements to structure search, and new configuration options.  

Multiple Antibody Data Functions have been added to ChemCharts, including Relative Accessible Surface Area, Developability Metrics, and Structure Prediction.  An Antibody Dashboard Data Function automatically chains all of them, plus the Antibody Numbering and Sequence Liabilities Data Functions.

The Cluster Card Visualization in ChemCharts allows user to create groups of small molecules or other entities via interactive drag-and-drop.  Clusters are represented in a hierarchical tree, with an optionally defined representative structure.  Cluster information, like group statistics, is displayed in a form-based view with various organization options.  

The Kinome Visualization in ChemCharts displays qualitative and quantitative data in a kinase phylogenetic tree, with extensive configuration options for branch and nodes.  

ChemCharts Structure Search has been enhanced with a Quick Search method to allow searching directly from a Details, Gallery, or Table Visualization. 

The Exact Match and Substructure Search options in ChemCharts now include additional configuration options. Exact Match supports normalization prior to matching, which will remove explicit Hydrogens, disconnect metal ions, standardize stereochemistry, etc.  Users can also specify Exact Match criteria beyond just Structure (e.g.: SMILES, InChi key, Molecular Formula).  Substructure Searching now supports additional Bond Matching criteria, including Exact, Tautomer, and Relaxed.  

Newly introduced Configuration options for ChemCarts Visualizations include the ability to use Smart Cells as controls in From-Based Visualizations, an option to turn off atom labels in the RDKit renderer when the image is small, and the ability to export number and color formatting to Excel.

Synergy

CRO users can now receive Notifications about Work Order assignment, Synergy Experiments, comments, and other relevant changes. CRO users can configure their notifications by clicking on Notifications in the User Menu. Email notifications will send an e-mail each time a selected event occurs. In-app notifications appear in the bell icon in the Synergy CRO application. 

CRO users can now utilize Quick Add functionality in Chemical Drawings to easily add common chemicals (“generic add”), chemicals by CAS number from ChemACX, and chemicals from External Chemical Sources that are Enabled for CRO Users by the Admin. In Signals Configurations under Data Sources, the Admin can choose which External Chemical Sources to Enable for CRO Users. Enabled sources will appear for CRO users to the left of the Quick Add toolbar of Chemical Drawings in Synergy Experiments. Sources not enabled will not be accessible to CRO users. 

In Synergy Work Orders, both Sponsor and CRO users can now download Reference Tables to SDF or CSV files. If a Chemical Structure or Design Structure is included, the structure will be included in the downloaded SDF or CSV (as SMILES). For Reference Tables with Materials assets or batches, exported files will contain both the Material ID and ExID for the Sponsor, but only ExIDs for the CRO. 

Finally, given the appropriate privileges by the Admin, Sponsor users can now Share their Work Orders and Synergy Experiments with other Sponsor users in the parent Collaboration, allowing them to elevate or reduce access level (e.g., from Write to Full Control) to a specific entity. Work Orders and Synergy Experiments can only be shared to other Sponsor users who already access, never to CRO users. This functionality allows Sponsor users to share amongst other Sponsor users without risking leakage outside the organization.

Admin Defined Tables & Variation Tables

Configuration Admins can now define that calculated values in Admin Defined Tables and Variation Tables can be overwritten by the end user, by deselecting the “Read Only” setting. If the field is not set to Read Only, the end user can write in their own value. There is a reset option in order to reset to the calculated value.

Inventory

Status can now be updated via the Containers Search Table.

Users with privileges to Final Dispose will see the option, all others with appropriate privileges will see Dispose. To change container status to In Use, assign the container(s) a Current User. To change the container status to Available, set the Current User to unassigned:

To change the container status to Exhausted, update the Amount to zero.

Sub-Location can be searched and exported from the Containers Search Table.

When searching for locations, users can automatically include sublocations by checking the box. The results will show the selected location and its sublocations, which can then be exported.

Descriptions can be added and printed on Labels.
Each container type has a system property called Description.

Administrators can choose to add the Description property to label templates.

Creating, Copying or Editing a container will display the Description property.

If the Label Template has been configured to print the Description property, the users will see it on the label.

Administration

We have added new Measures for Length and Area. These Measures can be selected when adding new properties of type Number With Unit to Admin Defined Tables and other objects that support the Number With Unit property type.

Admins can now also include Attribute List values into Naming Sequences, such as those used to autoname Experiments. The Admin chooses from the available Attribute Lists, whereby on Experiment creation, the value selected for that Attribute List is included within the Experiment Name.

If the Attribute List is not present or doesn’t have a single value nothing is inserted into the name.

System Admins can now selectively view system managed events in the Admin Audit Trail.

User Roles VitroVivo section renamed Spotfire for Signals and includes an expanded set of privileges.  

Access Spotfire for Signals Analyst privilege controls whether a user has access to the local Analyst installer within the Home App as well as the launcher.  Users without this privilege will be limited to Spotfire for Signals Online use.  

New manage privileges for Screening Apps include Manage Published Workflows, Manage Data Import Templates, Manage Calculation Explorer Templates, and Manage Grid Plate Editor Designs.  The InVivo Data Model Designer App has a new Manage Data Model Designer Templates privilege.  These privileges control which users can create, edit, and delete items that other users can access.  

Additionally, new share privileges for Inventa include Share Inventa Search, Share SAR Groups, and Share SAR Layout. 
Control which users can access and substantiate an App via new privileges, including Access Screening Apps, Access Surface Plasmon Resonance Apps, Access InVivo Apps, and Access Data Model Designer App.  Users without these access privileges can still leverage the Apps within shared Workflows and DXPs.

Signals Research Suite Private Cloud environments now have the availability to manage and deploy Spotfire for Signals Custom Apps.  Once enabled, a new privilege, Manage Spotfire for Signals Custom Apps, will be available in the tenant to control access to the new Spotfire for Signals Custom Apps Configuration available within Home.  Also once enabled, all tenants within the environment will have a new Access Spotfire for Signals Custom Apps privilege that controls which users can substantiate Custom Apps.

The ChemDraw Preference setting for chirality is now observed in Inventa.  When selected, the top-level chiral flag is ignored for mol files while using the ChemDraw (vNext) renderer in Inventa.

Integrations & APIs

This update brings our first set of endpoints for Synergy customers. Only sponsors have access to APIs and configuration of external sources.

The initial set of API endpoints is focused on fetching of details about Synergy entities and work types. A new Synergy section has been added to Swagger that includes these endpoints.

Endpoints are available to fetch details about CROs, collaborations, departments, and work types.

External Notification for Synergy Experiment, Idea, and Work Order creation have been added to the “Top Level Entity Creation” notifications events. Signing events for Ideas and Synergy experiments have been added to “All Signing Events” notifications.

A new endpoint for the Signals Data Factory has been added for retrieving measurements data. You must specify the id of the measurement you are interested in and can optionally provide a projectId in the request body.

Note: To fetch mTypeId you can use: GET /api/v1/info-design/measurement-types. To fetch projectIds you can use: GET /api/v1/projects.

Further Details 

The following capabilities are in beta and are available for users, administrators and developers on the Signals platform upon request. Please contact your account representative or our support team if you would like access to the following features.

VitroVivo

A new In Vivo Application called “Animal Selection & Group Assignment” is now available upon request. This multi-step application will allow users to capture baseline data, select animals according to study criteria and assign them to treatment groups using either manual or randomization methods. 

This new application is an enhanced alternative to the current Baseline Capture app. Administrators can configure new user workflows by replacing the existing Baseline Capture app with the new app.

The new application will allow users to capture baseline data from animal cohorts using a form-based approach. 

The application supports automatic selection of animals based on user-defined metric ranges. Built-in visualizations will inform the user about the list of animals excluded from the study and the reasons for exclusion.  This is an interactive application that will allow users to manually include or exclude animals, if needed. 

The application supports assignment of animals to treatment groups either manually or via randomization methods.  If “Randomization needed” is selected in the Study Designer Application in the workflow, then the system will automatically present the Randomization options to the user in the Group Assignment step in this application. Based on the randomization criteria entered by user, the system will automatically assign animals to treatment groups. 

Users can also assign new Cage IDs and Animal IDs to the grouped animals, if needed.