Orpus is version control for wet-lab protocols — and the only inventory tool that earns its predictions. Every step carries its reagent and volume, so every run decrements real stock, and every restock alert traces back to arithmetic a researcher can check.
Each one is only credible because of the one before it. That sequence is the product, and it is the moat.
A protocol is a living document that labs currently keep in a Word file called final_v3_REAL.docx. Orpus gives every protocol a history: what changed, who changed it, why — and a read-only link a collaborator or reviewer can open without an account.
Change note — “0.8 mL matched yield at lower cost; RT step recovers A260/280.”
Researchers annotate each step with the reagent and the volume it consumes. It takes a minute, it makes the protocol better documentation — and it turns the protocol into a bill of materials. Consumption per run is then computed, not estimated.
Consumption per run4 reagents · £41.80
Inventory software fails because it demands a full audit before it gives anything back. Orpus asks for one number: how much do you have right now. Every logged run decrements it. The ledger stays honest because it is maintained by work people already do.
Usage rate is measured from logged runs — 1.2 mL of Proteinase K per run, 2.4 runs per week.
By now there is real consumption data, a real stock level and a measured usage rate — so “you will run out in {{ leadWord }}” is arithmetic, not a guess. Every alert opens onto the numbers behind it, which is why researchers act on them instead of muting them.
Empty in {{ leadWord }}
4.8 mL ÷ (1.2 mL × 2.4 runs/wk) = {{ weeksLeft }} weeks remaining
01
Drop in the document you already use. It is versioned from the first save, with a change note on every edit after that.
02
Add reagent and volume to the steps that consume them. The protocol becomes a bill of materials for every run.
03
One quantity per reagent, once. Logging a run decrements it, so the shelf and the screen stay in agreement.
04
{{ leadSentence }} — with the calculation attached, and a reorder that takes one line rather than one week.
They do, and it drifts within a fortnight, because nobody updates a spreadsheet at 11pm mid-run. Our decrement is a side effect of logging the run — the thing a researcher already wants a record of.
Structured, quantified protocol steps. Incumbents store protocols as prose attachments, so they have no quantities to decrement. Retrofitting that means re-authoring every customer's library — the reason their inventory modules stay manual.
Per-lab subscription, priced against a single wasted run — the tier ladder follows protocol count and seats. Reagent procurement is a visible second act, deliberately not in this round's plan.
The lab manager or PI who signs for consumables, on a card, without procurement. Adoption starts with one researcher versioning one protocol, which is why the sales cycle is measured in days.
Immutable versions with attributed change notes are the substrate an audit trail needs. Formal 21 CFR Part 11 alignment is on the roadmap for the regulated tier, not claimed today.
Eighteen months: two engineers, one scientist-in-residence, and the reagent catalogue that makes onboarding a paste rather than a project. Numbers are in the data room.