Frequently Asked Questions About Latch

What is Latch?

Latch is a biological cloud where organizations can store, process, analyze, and visualize multi-omics data.

Latch consists of four key pillars:

1. Latch Registry, a database with a user-friendly spreadsheet interface to enable complex metadata capture for NGS and multi-omics files on Latch.
2. Latch Data, a file storage system that can host unlimited data and make it accessible to everyone in your organization via a single log-in
3. Latch Workflow Manager, that allows teams to easily upload custom bioinformatics pipelines in any language to Latch, define arbitrary resource requirements for serverless execution, and automatically receive no-code interfaces out of the box.
4. Latch Pods, flexible and powerful cloud computing instances with RStudio and JupyterLab pre-installed for downstream analysis of workflow results. 

Who uses Latch?

Latch is software built for forward-thinking, cross-functional biotech teams that thrive on collaboration between the wet and dry lab teams.

Bioinformaticians:

• Upload bioinformatics workflows in any language using the Latch SDK, and receive associated no-code interfaces for your scientists and benefit from a highly scalable infrastructure that supports your entire company.→ Latch Workflow Manager
• Have a single location to seamlessly share analysis results with everyone on your team.→ Latch Data
• Flexible computing environments that easily scale up and down based on your needs for ad-hoc analyses.→ Latch Pods

Wet-lab Scientists:

• Access and analyze your own data via an intuitive, user-friendly interface.
• Access terabytes of data and analysis results on-demand to rapidly make go/no-go decisions on R&D Project.→ Latch Data
• Jump instantly into team analysis notebooks and reproduce results without having to go through the hassle of setting up environments from scratch.→ Latch Pods

Team Leads and Executives:

• An easy to use, accessible, and efficient platform for scientists to independently query data for insights.→ Latch Workflow Manager→ Latch Data
• A flexible and secure computational environment that your bioinformatics team can control, scale, and serve to wet lab biologists.→ Latch Workflow Manager→ Latch Pods

How do I get started with Latch?

You can simply log in here and start using Latch! (Yes, it really is that simple) Every account comes with 100 credits. If you run out of credits, you can use Stripe to purchase more, or contact our sales team for a 14-day free trial and a discounted bulk credits package.  To learn more about how credits can be spent on the platform, visit our Pricing page.

How do I upload my custom workflow to Latch?

You can use the Latch SDK to upload custom bioinformatics pipelines, regardless of the language that it is currently in.

The Latch SDK is an open-source toolchain to define serverless bioinformatics workflows with plain python and deploy associated no-code interfaces using single command.

Bioinformatics workflows developed with the SDK automatically receive:

• Instant no-code interfaces for accessibility and publication
• First class static typing
• Containerization and versioning of every registered change
• Reliable and scalable managed cloud infrastructure
• Single line definition of arbitrary resource requirements (eg. CPU, GPU) for serverless execution

To learn more, visit our docs at docs.latch.bio.

How do I bring my own data to Latch?

Whether you are storing data in GCP, Azure, AWS, on-premise, or on local computers, bringing data to Latch is straightforward.

• If your data is on S3, you can directly mount a versioned S3 bucket of your choice on Latch. 
• If your data is GCP or Azure, you can write a workflow using Latch Python SDK to bring it to Latch. Alternatively, you can use Latch Secrets to seamlessly integrate and upload or download data directly from your preferred cloud provider. 
• If your data is on-premise or on local computers, you can use Latch CLI to copy data from your local to Latch and vice versa. 
• Latch also enables easy drag-and-drop from your local computer to Latch.

Can Latch be self-hosted on my own infrastructure?

Not yet! Latch follows an innovative hybrid-deployment model, where your data is fully owned by you, and the infrastructure serving bioinformatics pipelines is fully managed by Latch. This allows us to rapidly iterate to bring on high-quality features, give cost and performance guarantees, and ensure that security is offered out-of-the-box.

How does Latch secure customer data?

LatchBio is HIPAA-compliant and currently engaged with a SOC 2 auditor. Visit LatchBio’s Trust Center for our security reports and live compliance monitoring, or email LatchBio’s Compliance Team at compliance@latch.bio.