About samples and Sample Sets

Samples in Torrent Suite™ Software are the information and attributes that characterize the data.

Samples contain information, or attributes, that sequencing instruments use to process the genetic material during instrument runs. After sample sequencing is complete, software programs, such as Ion Reporter™ Software, use sample information for data analyses.

Sample information can be transferred to Ion Reporter™ Software from the sequencer through Torrent Suite™ Software using the IonReporterUploader plugin, or imported as individual BAM or VCF files. When a Ion Reporter™ Software analysis workflow is used to analyze a sample, the output in Ion Reporter™ Software is a set of analysis results.

You can preselect the attributes that you want to associate with each sample before you start to plan your templating and sequencing runs. Then you can organize the samples into Sample Sets that you can reuse when you create Planned Runs. Using Sample Sets can save data entry time and reduce the likelihood of errors when you plan your instrument runs by entering the information for the Sample Set only once, then reusing the Sample Set for other runs.

Grouping samples into Sample Sets is also helpful for using barcodes that have attributes that are assigned to each individual barcode. If you create Sample Sets before planning the run, you can enter barcodes and the barcode attributes only once in the Sample Sets. Then you can select one or more Sample Sets to reuse these barcodes when you create a Planned Run.

You can set up samples in Torrent Suite™ Software in two ways. You can manually enter sample information for each sample, or import sample information from a CSV file that contains the sample information.

You can search for and find samples in the software, add Sample Sets to your Planned Runs, and view details about how the sample libraries were prepared if the run uses an Ion AmpliSeq™ library preparation kit. To change the sample files, you can also edit information in the samples, update Sample Sets, and delete samples and Sample Sets.