General

FastFinderStudio 1.2 enables the creation of FastFinder Assay Plugins that are compatible for use in FastFinder Workflow, Analysis and Lab Management. With FastFinderStudio, labs can manage low to moderately complex assays without having to rely on UgenTec’s Customer team and can control key assay parameters right from within FastFinder.

This new release brings support for assays using absolute quantitative interpretation. With our new features, you will be able to configure standard curves, relevant standard curve criteria, quantitative standards and use concentration (cutoffs) in the assay logic.

Next to that, this update also comes with support for replication and the logic pertaining to analyzing replicates. 

Also, our assay overview screen has been redesigned to make it easier to manage a large number of assays. For example, it is now possible to perform batch actions in the overview such as checking for configuration errors, inactivating and publishing assays. 

With this release, users can now configure if mixes are required, and it’s now possible to select multiple targets in the ΔCq/ΔdRn cutoff blocks. And lastly, you are now enabled to use our Advanced rule builder, giving you a more detailed way to define your decision tree. 

As always, it is your feedback that informs our roadmap, and allows us to keep improving FastFinder, so we want to thank you for your continued suggestions. Don’t hesitate to let us know how we can improve FastFinder even further.

Studio 1.2.6 (March 31, 2023)

Improvements 

• It is now possible to restore an assay using the configuration of the last published assay. This feature only works for assays that are published starting from this upgrade. To use it, go to General > Last published version > History, and click 'Restore version'.
• It is now possible to clear all configured rules in the Rule matrix and Advanced rule builder.
• Advanced Rule builder: Improved UX (no more flickering when adding a condition/arguments, actions are shown next to conditions instead of below)
• Advanced rule builder: it is now possible to duplicate a rule.
• Advanced rule builder: it is now possible to select 'All targets incl/excl IC' and 'All internal controls' instead of having to select them manually.
• Quantitative assay: it is now possible to select and configure an internal control for quantitative standards.
• Quantitative assay: it is now possible to allow results to be qualitatively analyzed, even when a standard curve is configured.
• When configuring cutoffs in the Target calling tab, it is now possible to change the result to 'Inconclusive'.
• Added a UgenTec services status link to the Support page

Fixed bugs 

• Fixed a bug that could lead to standard curve criteria being ignored.
• A clear warning will now be shown when generating rules fails because target mapping was not yet completed. 
• When a lot of targets are linked in target mapping, the links would become misaligned. This has now been fixed.

Studio 1.2.4 (February 9, 2023)

Fixed bugs

• We fixed a bug where assays using an external target could not be published.
• When automation was set to highest, automation & sensitivity settings were not shown in Assay details, this has now been fixed.
• In FF Studio 1.2.2 we fixed a bug where cutoffs were not correctly updated in case the cutoff already existed, causing publishing of assays to fail. However, assays that were created before this bugfix were still impacted. We have now made sure that existing assays are fixed accordingly.
• Removed support for instruments Azure Cielo 6 and PrimeMDx as not all FastFinder platform versions support these yet.

Studio 1.2.2 (February 1, 2023)

New features

With this release, we added support for quantitative assays and assays using replicate logic. Moreover, we introduce the Advanced rule builder to give you more flexibility when creating your rules.

Improvements

• The assay overview screen is redesigned to better manage a large assay portfolio.
• The user can now configure, per sample type, whether mixes are required
• The user can now select multiple targets in the ΔCq/ΔdRn cutoff blocks
• When the calling method ‘PCR Instrument’ is chosen, a warning is now displayed when instrument callings are not available in the file.
• The result calling method ‘PCR Instrument’ is now supported for Thermo Fisher ABI 7500 and BioRad CFX.
• It is now possible to use relevant assay information (e.g., cutoff values) into notifications. Please contact support@ugentec.com if you want to use this feature.
• The copy assay button has now moved under Actions > Copy assay. Additionally, it is also possible to check for configuration errors under Actions.
• It is now possible to publish assays even if no changes were made in FF Studio (e.g., when a new decision tree rule engine has been released).
• New assays and existing assays for which no plugin was published before FF Studio v1.2 release will use the latest version of our algorithm (v41). Existing assays will keep using the version that was released with FF Studio 1.0 (v34) or FF Studio 1.1 (v41). With the exception that assays created in FF Studio 1.0 (v34) and using the calling method ‘PCR instrument’ (which uses curve calls & Cqs from the Instrument), will be published with algorithm v41 since this feature is not compatible with v34. 
  • Important: The intended use for the qPCR amplification algorithm is specifically in high throughput assay plugin configurations (relative high number of samples with low number of targets) with positive and negative control samples present on the plate.

Fixed bugs

The following issues have been fixed in this release:

• Target Cq/dRn Error was unclear we have updated the error message to specifically state what is wrong.
• Cutoff identifiers are not updated in case the cutoff already exists; we fixed this to be updated correctly
• Cutoff names were not uniquely generated, leading to duplicate names in Assay configuration, now they are uniquely generated
• Unable to save control configuration in case a target was added and immediately removed even though other changes were made, now control configuration can be saved.
• Adding targets after a control has already been configured would automatically link the targets, even when those targets were not relevant for that control; we fixed this to be linked only when the user configures them as such.
• Targets that were not relevant for a control would still receive a warning / be invalided when that control was missing, now they no longer do.