Welcome to the twelfth volume of our 2022 product release notes! We’ve been working hard to bring you performance improvements that add value to your work. Read on to learn about the product enhancements and bug fixes released in November 2022.
Notebook
Benchling Notebook helps users log their experiments, create protocols, and capture results against their samples.
Multi-stage review processes and author review
Admins can now configure review processes that require multiple signatures for entries to be accepted. For example, a review might require signatures from both a peer scientist and a quality representative. Additionally, authors can now close out their entries in companies without robust review processes.
To enable this feature, please contact a Benchling representative.
Molecular Biology
The molecule entity in Registry helps users model and interact with chemical compounds throughout the platform, enabling users to draw, visualize, store, and search chemical structures.
Degenerate bases as Natural Analogs for monomers
Benchling now supports IUPAC degenerate base characters as the natural analogs for nucleotide base monomers. Previously, nucleotide base monomers could only use ACTGU or N as natural analogs.
Access Management
Access management is the way customers control who is able to access which resources, and includes things like project permissions, access policies, and admin roles.
Expose default Append access policy as an option to all customers
Users can now view the Append access policy in the project permissions experience. Those given append access can create objects in a Project, but not edit them.
Application Core
To create a seamless Benchling experience, our platform must be consistent, compliant and predictable. The Application Core provides the central capabilities platform to create a smoother user experience.
Gainsight PX in-app announcements
Gainsight PX is a new in-application communications technology that Benchling will use to send timely, relevant communications to users. These in-app announcements provide important information on upcoming product releases, planned downtimes, new features, etc. Users can’t opt-out of this change.
Compliance Controls
With Compliance Controls, gathering required information for compliance is simple, intuitive, and performant. The team’s primary focus is on our auditing platform but we also own exporting and archiving.
Audit initial collaborators at project creation
Audit logs now record collaborators’ access level at the time of project creation.
Export audits for Registry General Settings
Users can now export audit logs to analyze changes to the Registry General Settings.
Customizable datetime formatting on audit logs
Users can now customize the format of datetime stamps on audit events.
To enable this feature, please contact a Benchling representative.
Workflows
Workflows are a sequence of processes that are performed to answer a research question or synthesize new material. For example, synthesizing a new set of proteins from supernatants, or improving the transduction process.
Fix mapping failures improvements
Users can now fix mapping failures when executing flowcharts with branches. Previously, users had to archive the task and restart. Additionally, in the failed mapping interface, task fields that didn’t fail automatically populate. Previously, the user had to manually select even the non-failing fields.
Post-creation Task schema modification
Flowchart admins can now allow users to modify flowchart Task schemas after tasks of that schema have been created. This option is still available after a flowchart Task schema has been created.
Developer Platform
Our developer platform is fundamental to centralizing and standardizing all your R&D data. Benchling’s APIs and Events are built to match the flexibility and speed of modern life science R&D.
Filter API results by schema field values
Users querying schematized objects in the API can now specify schema fields and a range of values to limit which objects are returned.
Audits for updating app lifecycle management
Users can now view changes to the app lifecycle management method in audit events.
Warning modal for app deactivation
When deactivating an app, users will now receive a warning message detailing the consequences of the action before deactivation.
Improved error handling and Secure Text value in app configuration window
The app configuration page has more informational error messages and the interface for secure text fields is improved.
Bug Fixes
Notebook
- Deleting a column no longer prevents audit logs from downloading
- Benchling no longer fails to save an entry or protocol due to indexing exceptions, and now warns users that search results may not surface the latest changes
- Users whose entry access has been revoked can no longer load that entry’s contents and can re-request entry access
- Users with only Read permissions can no longer view the option to insert a Lookup or Custom column when viewing an entry
- Collapsing the expanded view of a table no longer takes you to the top of an entry rather than maintaining the original position
Molecular Biology
- The GenBank “translation” property no longer imports as a custom field and its ApEinfo_revcolor property no longer defines a custom field
- Benchling now explicitly removes parts when changing a sequence or nucleotide type
- Sequence map axes now automatically update upon changing start index
- Users without sequence editing access can no longer reindex sequences upon realignment
- Translation regions now appear appropriately on the template sequence in template alignments
Molecular Biology
- During oligo creation, the 3’ phosphate is now null by default
Registry and Inventory
- Moving a container within the same plate or box now records as a modification and is reflected accordingly in the modified date field
- Undo transfer actions are now recorded in the correct audit log event
- Benchling no longer crashes when moving root locations via the API
Workflows
- Automated mapping no longer fails when manually adding tasks to a flowchart configured upon creation
- Benchling no longer syncs empty flowcharts in the warehouse
- Users can now execute tasks into entries containing archived tasks
- Flowchart tasks without outputs can no longer have empty flowcharts
Lab Automation
- Benchling now surfaces more relevant search results in Run modals
Developer Platform
- Calling the rename-entities endpoint no longer locks the entire Registry application and instead granularly locks entities based on their labels
- The rename-entities API endpoint no longer fails when another registration event is in progress
- Removing container contents in the UI now correctly updates the modifiedAt field in the API
- Webhook URLs are now validated on App Create