Broccoli Software provides software applications to research facilities, and agribusiness and life-science companies. Our services include both laboratory research and experimental control software, systems for processing online sales of medical kits, and electromechanical prototyping for novel medical devices.
Our project history includes devices for measuring bacteria in water and blood at concentrations of 1000 per ml, DNA testing systems to confirm the heredity of porcine and bovine livestock, human and porcine DNA banking, DNA testing applications for detecting human abnormalities, and online IgG allergy testing systems.
LABORATORY SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS
Broccoli Products develops bespoke software applications for automating research.
Our software offers a modular and flexible approach to the problem of automating laboratory instruments from a single workstation. By providing clients with a simple scripting language, experiment scripts can be created and modified without any assistance from the software developer.
Experiment scripts and results can be signed off, and included in the formal quality assurance documentation required for product certification.
Prior to automation It is essential that each instrument can be computer controlled. The majority of modern instruments have a computer interface of some kind, RS-232, RS-485 or USB. Some instruments are in the form of computer cards that are installed into a Windows PC and are accompanied by a set of drivers. For instruments that are too simple to have an interface, such as a valve or stepper motor, a small circuit board can be designed to control the instrument by RS-232 or RS-485.
Experimental automation is often a stepping stone to prototyping.
The variety of home testing kits on the market has recently expanded. For example,
drug intake, cholesterol, HIV, steroid, pregnancy, and paternity can all be tested for in the home, and without patient referral.
Home testing
kits contain a sterile set of disposable utensils with which the customer can collect a few drops of blood or urine. The sample and the used utensils are returned in the packaging provided, the sample is analyzed and the used utensils are safely disposed of. The test results are sent to customer or their GP.
Because of the additional steps included in online home-testing, for example, completing a short medical questionnaires during the checkout process, standard basket-and-payment services provided by internet service providers are unsuitable. Both internet and application software are often required to combine the online ordering process, the laboratory work and the accounting into a single procedural flow.
Broccoli Products has created an online allergy testing service for a company based in York. The Internet software provided a secure zone for the customers to enter medical history and credit card details. Customers could log on and follow the status of their order and view the results. Data was held on a single database located on the clients premises. A software application was developed that allowed secure access to this database from anywhere on the Internet. In York, laboratory technicians could identify returned test kits with a barcode scanner, process the sample, and update the status and results of the test. The clinicians working from home could read the medical history and the test result data and compose a diagnosis for the customer. The accounting department in the South East could track order payments as they were processed and draw up invoices for clinics.
Broccoli Products has built prototypes ranging from novel household items that contain no electronics or moving parts, to combinations of software, electronic and mechanical engineering for the biotech, defense and public-service industry.
