Frequently Asked Questions
A quick overview of how SampleX works for public discovery and private collaboration.
What is SampleX?
SampleX is a governed marketplace for scientific resources. It combines masked public discovery with a private workspace for inventory, requests, messaging, and institution-specific review.
What can public visitors see?
Public visitors can see resource names, categories, and public-safe metadata. Provider identity, direct contacts, storage locations, serial numbers, and other sensitive details remain masked until the user is signed in and authorized.
How do resources become public?
A resource starts in private inventory. When a team wants to make it discoverable, SampleX routes a listing request through the institution's configured review path. The specific reviewers can vary by organization; common models include PI review, lab-manager review, TTO review, or a combined policy queue.
How do I contact a provider?
Contact information is revealed only inside approved workflows. A signed-in user can request access, and the institution can decide when provider contacts, messaging, or transfer steps should become available.
Who can access the dashboard?
The dashboard is private and requires login. Institutions can onboard researchers, lab managers, administrators, PIs, TTO users, or equivalent reviewer roles. Navigation and server-side permissions are role-aware.
What types of resources can be shared?
SampleX supports samples, equipment, and software. Examples include strains, cultures, environmental samples, sequencing access, specialized instruments, analysis workflows, and reusable research software.
Can approval workflows be customized?
Yes. The product supports configurable review paths. A university might use PI approval followed by TTO publication review, while a company might use a lab owner plus compliance reviewer. The public website avoids assuming one governance model because institutions differ.
Do you support cross-institution exchange?
Yes. SampleX supports cross-institution collaboration with review controls, request history, messaging, and policy evidence. Material Transfer Agreements and related legal processes can be represented as part of the configured workflow.
Is my data secure?
SampleX is designed around state-of-the-art web safety practices: private-by-default inventory, least-privilege role-based access, HttpOnly secure cookie sessions, CSRF protection, rate limits on public and messaging surfaces, audit history for sensitive workflow changes, structured review gates, and deployment-level safeguards such as encryption, backups, monitoring, and incident-response processes. No web platform can eliminate all risk, so institutions should still review deployment configuration and data handling before production use.
What evidence is retained for review decisions?
SampleX records request status, reviewer notes, rejection reasons, visibility changes, selected role-management events, and timestamps for sensitive workflow changes. This creates a practical audit trail for marketplace and collaboration decisions.
Can I track who accesses my samples?
The dashboard records access requests and their status. Institutions can review who requested a resource, what was approved or rejected, and which notes were attached to the decision.
What does it cost?
In general, SampleX is free for academic institutions. Pilot scope and pricing for extended services, integrations, commercial use, or custom review models depend on the number of labs, resource categories, integration needs, and institution workflow. Contact us to scope a pilot.
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