Use treatment and dose tools in In Vivo

Benchling In Vivo provides tools to create disease models, pre-treatments, and treatments, assign them to study groups, and administer doses across individual animals or entire cohorts. Dosing methods define how compounds are delivered, whether as fixed volumes or weight-based calculations, and determine which fields must be completed at setup or during dosing. You can administer doses in bulk from the Doses section or capture them in real time using workflows. All doses, including deletions, are logged against animals and can be reviewed in study exports or directly from the Doses section.

Create a disease model

Diseases represent disease induction agents and are managed separately from general treatments. They can be administered to any animal at any time, regardless of group configuration. Diseases are tracked and reported distinctly, so it’s clear when a compound was used to induce disease versus when it was used as a treatment. Tenant admins can also define unique metadata fields for diseases that differ from treatments.

1. In your study, click the Treatment groups section
2. Click the Diseases tab
3. Click Add new
4. Search for and select the disease model under Name
5. Select the Dosing method
   • The Custom option enables additional units, including cells
6. Enter the applicable dose information
7. Complete any custom metadata fields defined by your tenant admin
8. Toggle any fields as required to ensure they are completed at time of delivery
9. Click Add disease

Create treatments and pre-treatments

Treatments and pre-treatments track the delivery of compounds to animals in a study. Use pre-treatments to record compounds given before animals are assigned to study groups. Use treatments to record compounds administered to animals within groups. Treatments and pre-treatments share the same metadata fields, defined by your tenant admin. At least one group must exist in the study before you can create treatments. You should create a separate treatment for each unique dose of the same treatment compound.

1. In your study, click the Treatment groups section
2. Click the Treatments tab
3. Click Add new
4. Select either:
   • Pre-treatment: Can be administered to any animal, regardless of group status
   • Treatment: Can only be administered to animals in groups
5. Search for and select the treatment under Name
6. Select the Dosing method
7. Enter the applicable dose information
8. Complete any custom metadata fields defined by your administrator
9. Click Add treatment

Understand dosing methods

Dosing methods define how a disease, pre-treatment, or treatment is delivered. They determine which fields are set at the disease or treatment level, which fields must be completed at the time of dosing, and whether calculations are automated based on animal body weight. There are five available dosing methods:

• Standard volume: All animals receive the same volume of the compound.
  • Required fields: Volume, Stock Concentration
• Dose volume (mL/kg): Animals receive the same dose from a standard working solution concentration of the compound, with volume calculated by body weight. The dose field is optional, but if entered, it becomes the primary identifier (alongside treatment name) in study design and dosing.
  • Required fields: Dose Volume (mL/kg)
  • Dependent on animal body weight
• Standard concentration: All animals receive the same concentration of the compound, with volume varying by body weight and stock concentration.
  • Required fields: Dose, Stock Concentration
  • Dependent on animal body weight
• Standard concentration (mL/kg): All animals receive the same concentration of the compound, with volume varying by body weight only.
  • Required fields: Dose (mL/kg)
  • Dependent on animal body weight
• Standard concentration (vg/kg): All animals receive the same concentration of the compound, with volume varying by body weight only.
  • Required fields: Dose (vg/kg), Stock Concentration (vg/mL)
  • Dependent on animal body weight
• Custom: All animals receive the same dose and volume, not linked to body weight. Dose and volume fields are optional at dosing by default, but you can make them required by selecting units and checking the Required box.
  • If dose is marked as required, this becomes dependent on animal body weight

Assign treatments to groups

After creating treatments, assign them to groups using the configuration tab. Once assigned, you can deliver doses to animals in those groups.

1. Click the Configuration tab
2. Click on the first Group
3. Select each Treatment that will be administered to animals in that group. Multiple treatments can be assigned to each group if needed
4. Repeat the steps above for each group
5. Click Next

Administer doses of diseases, pre-treatments, and treatments

From the Doses section

You can administer up to 1000 doses in a single bulk action across multiple animals, groups, or treatments using the tabular interface in the Doses section of a study. Only one classification of dose (disease, pre-treatment, or treatment) can be delivered at a time. To deliver more than one classification, repeat the process for each. Bulk dosing is not recommended for real-time data capture. Leaving the table without saving will result in loss of progress. Bulk dosing details cannot be edited during entry. They are computed based on the dosing method and, if applicable, body weight. For weight-based dosing, the most recent recorded weight is used; new weights cannot be entered during this process. All deceased animals and animals without a recorded body weight (if required for dose calculations) are automatically excluded from receiving the dose.

1. In your study, open the Doses section
2. Click Record dose and select:
   • Record disease
   • Record pre-treatment
   • Record treatment
3. Select one or more compounds and click Next
4. Select animals using the checkboxes
   • For treatments, only animals in groups configured for the selected treatment will appear
5. Click Next
6. Set the dosing date and time in the Time column
7. Add comments in the Comment column
8. Click Create to record the doses

When administering diseases, the disease induction date is automatically logged based on the selected date and time. To opt out of this, uncheck the Set disease induction date box at the bottom of the table. See how to manage animals for instructions on manually updating disease induction dates for animals.

Note: Doses cannot be edited, however if you need to alter a dose record you can delete the dose and re-record it with the correct information. Doses can be deleted in bulk from the Doses section.

Administer doses from Workflows

For real-time data capture, you can administer doses through workflows. See how to configure and use Workflows in In Vivo for instructions.

Delete doses

You can delete doses in bulk from the Doses section or individually from an animal profile (see how to manage animals for single-animal instructions). All dose records, including deletions, are logged in the In Vivo audit log.

To delete doses in bulk:

1. In your study, open the Doses section
2. Select the doses you want to delete using the checkboxes
3. Select Bulk actions > Delete
4. Type DELETE and confirm

View dose history

The Doses section provides a complete record of all doses in a study, including diseases, pre-treatments, and treatments. You can also view doses per animal from the animal profile (see How to manage animals for instructions) 

• Use the Doses section to see a full list of recorded doses
• Click on any column header to sort the table

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I dose animals without a recorded body weight?

A: Yes, but only if the dosing method doesn’t require weight-based calculations. For weight-based methods, animals without a valid body weight cannot be dosed.

Q: What happens if I try to dose a deceased animal?

A: You cannot dose a deceased animal. Deceased animals are automatically excluded from both bulk dosing and workflows.

Q: Can I override a calculated dose volume?

A: Yes, in workflows you can enter a new custom value. In bulk dosing, however, you cannot overrid the calculated volumes.

Q: How do I track pre-treatments separately from treatments?

A: Pre-treatments and treatments are recorded as distinct entities, each with their own metadata fields. Use pre-treatments to model compounds delivered before group assignment.

Q: Can I export dosing records?

A: Yes. From the Export section, you can export a study dosing report.

Q: Can I edit or delete a dose record?

A: Dose records cannot be edited. If a correction is needed, delete the original dose and re-record it. Doses can be deleted in bulk from the Doses section or individually from an animal profile.