Cytogenetics is case-based, not sample-based, and most LIMS were built around the sample as the unit of work. One specimen, one test, one result. A cytogenetics case breaks that model. A single case can span culture setup, harvest, slide prep, multiple FISH probes, and a microarray, each with its own turnaround clock and its own reviewer. The lab ends up tracking the case in a binder or a spreadsheet next to the LIMS.

This is where the gap shows up. Imaging systems produce the data that matters, yet it rarely makes it into the record cleanly. Analysts read on one screen and document on another, so the binder tracks status, but not the underlying reason for delay. When a cytogeneticist wants to know why a case is late, the answer is in three places: the LIMS, the binder, and whichever analyst last touched the case.

Labbit models the case as the central entity, with cultures, slides, probes, and images attached to it, so the answer as to why a case is late lives in one place, not three. Turnaround clocks run per case and per step, review and sign-out are role-enforced, and the report pulls from the record rather than from a template someone fills in.

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