Custom Studies provide a flexible and organized way to manage your experimental work. You can efficiently bring together all materials—including entries, datasets, and tasks— that are part of your study into a single, easily accessible location, ensuring consistency and clear tracking of your research.
Feature Overview
Key features of custom studies include:
- Data Association: Link various data elements, such as Entries, entities, Datasets, and Workflow tasks, to a study.
- Auto-Linking: Automatically connect created objects to their associated study, ensuring traceability.
- Study Lifecycle: Manage the progression of a study through distinct phases: Design, Execution, and Completion.
- Design Entry: Initiate each study with a dedicated Notebook entry that outlines the study's design and details.
- Insights Support: Analyze and query study data using the "study_item" table within the Insights reporting tool.
- Daily Digest Notifications to send automated daily summary emails to team members of study-related due dates.
Study Lifecycle
- Design Phase: The planning stage of a study. A "Design Entry" is automatically generated to initiate the study. This entry outlines the study's plan and details.
- Execution Phase: This is where the actual experimental work of the study takes place. Experimental data and relevant objects (like entities, datasets, etc.) are associated with the study as the work progresses.
- Completion Phase: The study is finalized, all data is reviewed, and the study can be viewed for reference.
Step-by-Step: Using Custom Studies
- Create a Study
From the Studies side panel or Global Create, select your Custom Study schema and enter metadata. A Design Entry will be auto-created. - Design Entry
The Design Entry is displayed on the study's overview page and can be configured to require approval before the study moves to the Execution phase. - Associate Data with a Study
There are several ways to connect your experimental data to a Custom Study:- Using Notebook Tables: Add the "Studies" column to your notebook tables. This will allow you to directly link the objects created in those rows (and therefore the data represented in those rows) to a particular study.
- Adding Studies via Metadata Pages: On the metadata page of objects (like entities or containers), you can find a "Studies" field. Use this field to manually associate the object with a study.
- Utilizing Auto-Linking: When you create new notebook entries directly from the Study Overview page, the objects created within those entries will be automatically linked to that study. This simplifies the process of associating new data.
- Study Lifecycle
- Studies progress through three key phases: Design → Execution → Completion.
- Search & Access Study Data
- Study Items Tab: Within the Study Overview, the "Study Items" tab provides a comprehensive list of all data linked to the study.
- Global Search: Use the "In Study" filter in Global Search to find specific items that are part of your study.
- Insights Dashboards: For in-depth analysis and reporting, utilize the "study_item" table within Insights dashboards to query and visualize your study data.
Associating Data with a Study
There are multiple ways to link your work to a study:
- From the Study Overview: Use shortcuts to create objects like entities and containers — they’ll auto-link to the study.
- In Notebook Tables: Add the “Studies” column to link table rows to studies.
- Directly on Objects: Edit the “Studies” field on the metadata page of supported object types.
- Via API: Use the upcoming APIs to programmatically associate data (API coverage may vary at GA).
Auto-linking works only when creating notebook entries from the Study Overview. It links all table rows in the entry to a single study.
What’s Studyable?
The following object types can be linked to studies:
- Entities (except Mixtures), Plates, Containers, Boxes, Assemblies
- Entries, Worksheets, (New) Requests, Workflow Tasks
- Datasets, Analyses
Example Insights query:
SELECT * FROM registry_entity
JOIN yourtenant$study_item ON registry_entity.id = study_item.entity_id
WHERE study_item.study_id = 'Study_XYZ'
FAQ and Troubleshooting
Q: Why isn't auto-linking working?
A: Ensure the entry was created using the shortcut on the Study Overview page. Auto-linking only applies when initiated from this location.
Q: I can’t see certain linked objects in the Study. Why?
A: Linked objects still follow Benchling’s permission model. Make sure the user has access to the associated data.
Q: Where is the “Studies” column in my notebook table?
A: By default, it’s hidden. Manually add it to the table layout via the table settings.
Q: My study isn’t gating progress at the Design phase.
A: Check the schema configuration to confirm whether design entry approval is required.
Q: Why can’t I use Study ID in my naming template?
A: Study ID is not currently supported as a component in naming templates.
Q: What are the disadvantages to modelling studies manually?
A: Manually modeling studies increases user error and overhead since data linking isn’t automated, and lacks study-specific features like lifecycle tracking, reporting, and approval workflows built into native Custom Studies.