Research Software Solutions

Anyone at Columbia with an ARC chartstring/chartstring access can have an iLab account, including Morningside users. An iLab account is automatically be created for you if you have a sponsored project(s) that is already mapped to you in the Columbia finance system. To check if you already have an iLab account, please log in with your UNI.

Lab Members

If your PI has an existing lab group in iLab, please use this guide to assist you with signing up for an iLab account. Enter your PI in the “lab/group” field when registering for an account. Once your request to join your PI’s lab has been accepted by your PI or lab manager, your account will become active in iLab. Then, please ask your PI or lab manager (if applicable) to provide you with access to the chartstring you need to utilize. Please note that you will need access to a chartstring prior to creating any software requests. If you have any questions, please contact iLab support at [email protected]

Faculty for Labs, Centers, or Departments

If you are faculty (representing a lab, center, or department), but you do not have a lab listed in iLab yet, please contact iLab support at [email protected] to have one created. Be sure to include your UNI, email, and the full non-sponsored chart string that will be used for payment.

Please email [email protected] (this will create a ticket that will be assigned to Columbia's iLab administrator) and provide the following information: 

• PI’s name
• PI's email address
• Full unrestricted chartstring: Project|Activity|Segment|Department|Initiative|
• Optional: UNIs of others in the lab that need access to the project (or you can do this later via the "Membership Requests & Chart Strings" tab in iLab).

You should enter a "unit" for each full month* remaining in the software subscription. Your license purchase must extend until the end of the CUIT license cycle  (you cannot purchase a standalone month). Your order will be adjusted before being fulfilled if the monthly calculation is not entered correctly, and the cost will reflect the pro-ration from Columbia's annual discounted rate (as listed in the table above).

*Exception: If you are making an "ASAP" order so you can receive your license within 5 business days (rather than on the first business day of next month), you need to enter an additional unit for the current month.

Example: Ordering 2 BioRender licenses for 2 lab members for February 1. BioRender Premium subscription end date: September 30

February 1 - September 30 = 8 months

8 months x 2 licenses = 16 months

Quantity to enter = 16 units

"ASAP" Example: Ordering 3 GraphPad Prism licenses for 3 lab members on March 10. Prism subscription end date: January 31

March 10 - January 31 = 11 months (because you are paying extra to get Prism ASAP instead of April 1)

11 months x 3 licenses = 33 months

Quantity to enter = 33 units

Prism has a number of free resources available online, including:

• Prism Academy
• Getting Started with Prism
• Essential Statistics:
  • Beyond just the core features of the product, these videos are a way to learn how to do some of the key types of analysis in Prism: Learn to perform the most common types of analyses - Graphpad
• Creating High-Quality Graphs:
  • In addition to doing your analysis, this series of videos helps users with tips to create presentation-quality graphs:Learn how to customise graphs in Prism - Graphpad
• Statistics and Curve Fitting Resources - GraphPad

SnapGene has a number of online resources:

• User guides
• FAQ
• Quick start video series
• SnapGene Academy
• Plasmid files (library of annotated files for common plasmids)

CUIT also holds annual webinars with a SnapGene field scientist to review the latest functionality and answer questions in real-time. See below for recordings of previous sessions and don't hesitate to email [email protected] if you'd like to arrange a webinar on a specific SnapGene topic.

• SnapGene: What's new in Version 8.0 (02/13/25)
• SnapGene Feature Highlight (10/01/24)
• Intro to SnapGene (02/09/23)
• SnapGene Overview (10/18/23)

No. Each BioRender Premium license is tied to a single Columbia UNI and you log in with your UNI password (which is also used for My.Columbia paychecks and Vergil/Canvas grades), so you will be unable to share credentials for a single license across your lab. 

Yes. BioRender Basic licenses only provide access to the last few images that were edited most recently, and has limited publication rights. However all your illustration are preserved, and if you upgrade the same account to Premium, you will regain full access to all previous illustrations that you created, as well as full publication rights.

Remember: license transfers cannot be done on a regular basis so as to share a single license with an entire lab.

Email [email protected] with the following info and someone from Research Computing Services will help deactivate the current license and provide information on how to activate the freed-up license on a new computer:

• Software to transfer (BioRender, Prism or SnapGene)
• Name and UNI of current user
• UNI of user you would like to transfer the license to

Prism transfers

If Prism is installed on a lab computer that is reassigned to a different lab member, please specify this since part of the deactivation process is that the computer is blocked from being allowed to re-install Prism. In this case, we can remove the user from the allowed-user list instead of deactivating and blocking the computer. (From Prism: "...deactivation should only be used if you are taking a computer permanently out of circulation. Activations are tied to a unique Prism-generated machineID number, not the user name or computer name. If you are simply wiping a computer and reinstalling the license on the same computer, Prism will treat it as the same computer and will not consume an additional activation. You should only use the deactivation feature if that computer is being permanently removed from service.")

SnapGene transfers

SnapGene users can deactivate the license on their own, but you should still send the email to [email protected] so your new computer is properly documented in our inventory and doesn't get inadvertently flagged as a "free-loader" and blocked.

BioRender transfers

BioRender's Terms of Service (see below) prohibit re-assigning a license back to the same user within the license period (October 1 - September 30). For example, you cannot assign a license to User A, then move it to User B, and then return the license back to User A. You would need to wait to purchase a separate license for User A in the following renewal cycle.

"If a Seat is removed from a User-Account for any reason, the User-Account will immediately lose the functionality of the BioRender Plan associated with that Seat and the Seat cannot be re-assigned to the same User-Account until the following Renewal Term. The owner of the User-Account will need to agree to the terms of our Free BioRender Plan or another Paid BioRender Plan to continue to access our Services if their Seat assignment is removed."

Yes, you can usually purchase pro-rated licenses in iLab. The cost of your mid-cycle license will be pro-rated to the month based on how far into the year's subscription we are, and the license you purchase will expire at the end of the CUIT license cycle (it won't be for a full year). 

Research software licenses purchased through CUIT never auto-renew; you will receive email communications ~2 months prior to the expiration date to prompt you to submit an order if you would like to renew your license.

Generally you cannot use a credit card or P-card for payment through CUIT. However if you are not at all able to use iLab, please email [email protected] with your needs (tool, number of licenses, desired start date) and we will see if we can find a way to help.

Credit cards are accepted for full-price and student licenses directly through BioRender, GraphPad Prism or SnapGene.

No*, not if you purchase through CUIT RCS. All license purchasers and lab POCs will be contacted near the end of the license cycle, and will have the opportunity to renew and/or change the amount of licenses you have. Research Computing Services will be in touch ~2 months prior to the license expiration with the estimated cost of the new cycle's licenses, and you can submit an iLab order (backed by your chartstring) to sign-up for however many licenses you would like to maintain for the new year's cycle.

*If you purchase a student or academic license directly through the vendor using a credit card, auto-renewal is typically ON by default, so we recommend you adjust that setting immediately after purchase.

All purchase and payment information is fully available in your iLab account. You can follow these steps to view your invoices.

You are welcome to buy a personal (individual) or group subscription to these tools, CUIT Research Computing Services simply offers a discounted alternative.

In some cases, it may make more sense for you to buy directly through the vendor, especially if you are a student or postdoc: GraphPad Prism offers Personal Student (including postdocs and medical residents) licenses at a price that is lower than CUIT's discounted rate for two activations. Note:

• Postdocs, residents, grad and undergrad students are eligible (ID proof/letter required)
• Two device activations provided per license (same as CUIT's subscription)
• Payable only by credit card
• Students must request the licenses themselves, the lab can't do it for them in bulk
  • Licenses purchased directly through GraphPad Prism will be set to auto-renew on default! Ensure your student turns this off in their account settings in case they leave the lab with your credit card on file.
• Licenses are non-transferable if postdoc/student leaves the lab (unlike CUIT's subscription)
• If you are switching from CUIT's discounted Prism licenses to Prism's student licenses (postdocs included), then you should wait until the subscription is close to expiration to purchase the student license. The software subscription period will begin the moment your credit card payment goes through. 

Maybe. CUIT doesn't facilitate student licenses, however the software companies often have programs for this that instructors can apply to:

• GraphPad Prism: https://www.graphpad.com/free-course-licenses
• SnapGene: https://www.snapgene.com/free-course-license

CUIT Research Computing Services works hard to be available to assist with mid-license purchases, however we are a very small team. Note that we are only available during business hours (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm ET), and there may be periods where we are not available. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.

You can always buy a personal academic license directly through Prism (student version), BioRender or SnapGene and the software will be available for you immediately.

The Prism 10.3.0 version update quietly removed some tools, including K-means and hierarchical clustering. These features are only available with an Enterprise Prism subscription plan.

Generally it is best to check SnapGene's official FAQ and/or email SnapGene support directly via [email protected] when you have a technical issue.

For this specific issue, SnapGene has been able to resolve the error with the following steps:

1. First, try the instructions here: SnapGene or SnapGene Viewer Experiences Frequent Crashes.
2. If the issue persists, check if you have the product "IBM Aspera" installed and uninstall it if so. This has been identified as causing crashes and saving issues in SnapGene.
3. If the issue continues to persist, or if you need IBM Aspera as well as SnapGene, then contact SnapGene support directly via [email protected], recap your issue and the steps you have tried, and provide your computer's "About" information.

Please email [email protected] with your computer name and ask to be removed from the deactivated-user (blocked) list. After you are removed from the list, you will be able to activate the software under CUIT's group subscription.

This happens if your computer had the software on it in the past, but it was not renewed, so the license was manually deactivated (which automatically blocks it from new activations). This can also happen when computers are re-assigned to new lab members and the former member has had their license blocked.

You may explore the functionality that has been made available in BioRender. They have provided $50 worth of AI credits per user, which can be spent as follows:

• Figure Generation: Generate editable drafts of protocols, timelines, and flowcharts from text prompts. Cost: 1 credit per generation
• Image editing with AI: Easily stylize or modify uploaded images and icons using BioRender AI. Choose from our suite of tools for quick adjustments, or use Custom Edit to generate specific changes from a simple text prompt. Cost: 10 credits per generation

If you use BioRender's AI tools, it is your responsibility to remember the following:

1. You must disclose the use of AI in any publications (as per Columbia's Generative AI policy).
2. Many journals, funding agencies, and professional societies prohibit AI-generated images outright. Compliance is your responsibility.
3. You will own any AI-generated content created using BioRender. However, this ownership does not include BioRender’s templates, images, or design elements. Those materials remain the intellectual property of BioRender.
4. Columbia's BioRender subscription is not certified for sensitive data of any kind. Whether or not AI is involved, you should not upload or disclose sensitive data (RHI, PHI or PII) using BioRender.

BioRender does not use user-uploaded or created customer content (e.g. user-created files, uploads) to train their models without your knowledge. You can learn more about BioRender's AI approach at https://www.biorender.com/blog/ai. 

Due to concerns about security of sensitive information, the BioRender PowerPoint plugin will not integrate with CUIMC's PowerPoint program.

macOS

1. Click on the Apple logo in the top-left corner.
2. Click on About This Mac.
3. Click on More Info.
4. Your computer name will appear at the top of the About window.

Windows 11

1. Click on the Start button in the bottom-left corner.
2. In the search box, type "settings".
3. Your computer name will be displayed next to the thumbnail for your desktop wallpaper, on the System page.