Frequently Asked Questions

The Moustra AI assistant (Cheese AI) is a chat-based interface where you can ask questions in plain English.

What it can help with:

1. Data queries:

• "How many animals do I have?"
• "Show me all female mice"
• "What strains do I have?"
• "How many cages are in use?"
• Colony statistics
• Specific animal/cage/strain lookups

2. How-to questions:

• "How do matings work?"
• "Can I delete strains?"
• "How to import data?"

How it works:

The AI searches your actual colony data in real-time for data queries and references help articles for how-to questions.

Access:

Access Cheese AI from the navigation menu.

When you first set up your colony, Moustra generates personalized onboarding tasks to help you get started.

Where they appear:

These appear on your dashboard as actionable cards.

What tasks guide you through:

• Creating your first strain
• Adding animals
• Setting up cages on racks
• Configuring matings
• Importing existing data

Task structure:

Each task includes:

• Title
• Description
• Direct link to the relevant page

Tracking:

You can mark tasks as completed as you work through them.

Adaptive:

The onboarding tasks adapt based on your colony's current state.

Moustra's mobile app includes a built-in barcode and QR code scanner.

How to scan:

1. Open the scanner from the mobile app
2. Point your phone's camera at a cage label
3. Scanner automatically reads the code → takes you directly to that cage's detail page

Supported formats:

• QR codes
• Code 128
• Code 39
• EAN-13, EAN-8
• UPC-A, UPC-E

Manual entry:

If the camera is unavailable, you can manually type in the barcode number.

Customization:

Each cage is automatically assigned a barcode when created. You can customize the barcode value from the cage edit page to match your facility's labeling system.

You can print cage labels directly from the web application.

To print a label:

1. Go to the cage edit page
2. Click the print label button
3. Cage label dialog opens
4. Use your browser's print function to send to your printer

What's included on the label:

• Cage tag
• Strain name
• Set-up date
• PI name and phone number
• QR code linking to the cage's detail page
• Table of all animals in the cage with:
  • Tag
  • Sex
  • Date of birth
  • Genotype

Mobile integration:

The QR code on the label can be scanned with the Moustra mobile app to quickly pull up the cage's digital record.

Animals, cages, matings, and litters all support an Electronic ID (EID) — a simple, auto-incrementing number scoped to your lab (e.g., 1, 2, 3...).

Benefits:

• Human-friendly ID system
• Easier to reference than long system identifiers or physical tags

Configuration:

• Enable or disable EIDs in Lab Settings
• When enabled, EID fields appear on detail and edit pages for:
  • Animals
  • Cages
  • Matings
  • Litters

Use cases:

Ideal for internal lab tracking and quick reference.

Yes. Moustra is free to use — no credit card required.

What's included:

• All colony management tools
• Unlimited users
• Cheese AI assistant
• Weekly PI reports
• Mobile app + barcode scanning
• Notifications

Availability:

Moustra is free to use in both the web application and the mobile app.

Large institutions:

If you run a large facility and want tailored onboarding, training, and premium support, contact us and we'll work with your team directly.

Moustra is free to use, and every feature is included — there are no tiers or paywalls.

Included for everyone:

• All colony management tools
• Unlimited users
• Cheese AI assistant
• Weekly PI reports
• Mobile app + barcode scanning
• Notifications

Where to find it:

You can use all of these features in both the web and mobile app. No credit card is required.

Large institutions:

Larger facilities can contact us for tailored onboarding, training, premium support, and advanced admin controls.

Moustra supports customizable cage card templates so you can create cards that match your facility's needs.

Each template defines:

• Which fields appear on the card
• Field order
• Card size
• QR/barcode configuration
• Styling options

Multiple templates:

You can create multiple templates for different cage types:

• Breeding
• Stock
• Experimental

Default template:

Set one as your default.

Management:

Templates are managed from the cage card templates section in Settings.

To create a cage card template:

1. Go to the cage card templates section
2. Click to create a new template
3. Give it a name
4. Configure:
   • Card size (3×5, 4×6, 3×3, 2.5×4, credit card, or custom)
   • Which fields to show
   • Order of fields
   • QR/barcode settings
   • Visual styling

Default setting:

You can set a template as your default for quick access.

Naming:

Template names must be unique.

Moustra cage card templates support multiple card sizes:

Available sizes:

• 3×5 — standard index card (the default and most common in vivariums)
• 4×6 — larger cards
• 3×3 — compact square
• 2.5×4 — small label
• Credit card size
• Custom dimensions

Choosing a size:

Choose the size that matches the card holders or label printers in your facility.

Per-template setting:

The card size is set per template, so you can have different templates for different printers or card holders.

Each cage card template lets you configure which fields appear on the card and in what order.

Available fields include:

Cage information:

• Cage ID
• Strain
• Status

Animal data:

• ID
• Sex
• Date of birth
• Genotype

Breeding info:

• Mating type
• Dam/sire
• Litter info

Administrative fields:

• PI name
• Protocol number

Customization:

Toggle fields on or off and arrange them in the order that makes sense for your workflow.

Cage card templates include QR code and barcode configuration.

QR code:

You can enable a QR code that links directly to the cage's detail page in Moustra:

• Scan it with your phone
• Instantly pull up the cage record

Barcode options:

Code 128 available for facilities with handheld barcode scanners.

Configuration:

Configure the code type, position, and size in the template settings.

You can mark one of your cage card templates as the default.

What the default does:

The default template is used automatically when printing cage cards without selecting a specific template.

How to set default:

Edit the template and enable the default flag.

One default only:

Only one template can be the default at a time — setting a new default automatically unsets the previous one.

You can duplicate an existing cage card template to create a variation without starting from scratch.

When to duplicate:

Useful when you want a slightly different layout for a different cage type or room.

How to duplicate:

Use the duplicate action on any template — it creates a copy with (Copy) appended to the name.

After duplicating:

You can then rename it and modify:

• Fields
• Size
• Styling

Cage card templates support visual styling options.

You can customize:

• Font choices
• Borders
• Gridlines
• Header formatting

Why styling matters:

Styling options help ensure your cage cards are easy to read and match your facility's standards.

Cages are identified by a cage tag (e.g., C1, C2) and have a barcode for scanning.

Cage status:

• Stock — no active mating
• Mating — contains an active mating
• Status automatically changes based on animals present

Organization:

• Cages organized on racks
• Placed at specific row and column positions
• One cage can house multiple animals

Lifecycle management:

• End a cage by setting an end date from the cage edit page

Additional features:

• Comments
• File attachments

Racks organize your cages in a grid layout.

Rack configuration:

• Each rack has a name
• Configurable dimensions (columns × rows)
• Default: 10 columns × 7 rows

Cage positioning:

• Cages placed at specific row and column positions
• One cage per position
• Grid view visualizes cage layout as it appears in your physical facility

Multi-rack support:

Create multiple racks to match your room layout.

Settings:

Default rack dimensions can be configured in Lab Settings.

The rack page provides a visual, interactive representation of your entire rack layout.

Each cage card shows:

• Cage tag
• Animals inside
• Their sex
• Mating status

Key features:

• Drag-and-drop to move animals between cages directly on the grid
• Zoom in/out and fit-to-screen controls
• Search and filter within the rack view
• Rack selector to switch between racks
• Inline editing of animal and cage details

Why it matters:

The rack page is the closest digital representation of your physical facility. See your entire rack at a glance and manage animals by dragging them between cages.

In the rack page, you can move animals between cages by dragging and dropping.

How to drag and drop:

1. Click and hold an animal card in one cage
2. Drag it to another cage on the rack
3. Drop the animal

What happens automatically:

• Destination cage now has mature males and females → new mating is created
• Source cage lost its breeding pair → mating is disbanded

Speed advantage:

This is the fastest way to rearrange animals while walking through your facility with the app open.

Platform support:

Works on both desktop (mouse) and mobile (touch).

You can move cages to different positions on a rack or between racks.

How to move a cage:

1. Go to the rack grid view
2. Use the move cage dialog
3. Select a new position

Why this matters:

This helps keep your digital rack layout synchronized with physical cage movements in your facility.

Every cage has a lifecycle tracked by its setup date and end date.

Active cages:

• Start with a setup date
• Can hold animals
• Can participate in matings

To retire a cage:

Set an end date from the cage edit page.

Ended cages:

• Preserved in the system for historical records
• Typically filtered out of active views

Why track lifecycle:

Helps track facility usage over time.

From the cage edit page, you can update:

• Cage tag
• Barcode
• Strain
• Set-up date
• Comment
• Rack assignment
• Position on the rack

Additional actions:

• Print cage labels
• View all animals currently housed in the cage

What's displayed:

The cage edit page shows:

• Cage's current mating status
• Quick access to move animals in or out

Important note:

Changing a cage's strain does not affect the strains of individual animals in the cage.

The rack page includes a search feature that lets you find specific cages or animals within a rack.

How to search:

Type a cage tag, animal tag, or other identifier in the search bar.

What happens:

Matching cages are highlighted on the grid.

Filtering:

You can also filter by various criteria to narrow down what's displayed.

Use case:

Especially useful for large racks with many cages — quickly locate the cage you need without scanning every position.

When creating or editing a rack, you can configure its dimensions (columns and rows).

Configuration dialog:

Lets you set the size to match your physical rack.

Default dimensions:

Can be set at the lab level in Lab Settings.

Impact:

Changing rack dimensions affects how cages are laid out in the grid view.

Resizing consideration:

If you resize a rack smaller than existing cage positions, those cages may need to be repositioned.

The Cage Preview dialog lets you quickly view cage details without navigating away from your current page.

What it shows:

• Cage tag
• Strain
• Status
• Animals inside
• Other key information at a glance

Use case:

Useful when browsing lists or the rack page and you want to check a cage's contents without losing your place.

You can add new animals directly from the rack page without leaving the rack grid.

How to add:

1. Click on a cage card
2. Use the add animal option
3. Create a new animal directly in that cage

Streamlined workflow:

Ideal for recording new animals while walking through your facility:

• See the cage on the rack
• Add the animal
• Move on to the next cage

From the rack page, you can end (retire) a cage directly from its card menu.

What happens:

• Sets the cage's end date
• Removes it from the active rack grid
• Cage and its history are preserved for record-keeping

Use case:

Useful for quickly cleaning up cages that are no longer in use while viewing your rack layout.

Both the web rack page and mobile Grid View support zooming.

On the web:

• Use the zoom in, zoom out, and fit-to-screen buttons in the header
• Current zoom level is displayed as a percentage

On mobile:

• Use pinch-to-zoom gestures to zoom in and out of the rack grid

Why zooming matters:

Essential for large racks:

• Zoom out → see the full layout
• Zoom in → read cage details and manage individual animals

To create a new cage:

Option 1 — From the Cages list:

• Click Add Row for inline creation, or
• Navigate to the New Cage page

Option 2 — From the rack page: Click on an empty rack position

Option 3 — From the Colony Wizard: During setup

Option 4 — On mobile: From the cage list or grid view

Fields to set:

• Cage tag
• Strain
• Rack assignment
• Position

Barcode:

The barcode is auto-generated but can be customized.

To create a new rack:

1. Navigate to the rack management area
2. Click New
3. Give the rack a name
4. Set its dimensions (columns and rows)

Platform support:

Racks can be created from both the web application and mobile app.

Multi-rack support:

Each rack provides an independent grid for organizing cages.

Best practice:

Create multiple racks to mirror the physical rack layout in your facility — for example:

• One rack per room
• One rack per shelf unit

The rack page supports inline editing of cage and animal fields directly on the rack grid.

How to edit:

Click on editable fields within cage cards to modify values without navigating away.

What you can do:

• Change a cage tag
• Update an animal's details
• Correct information on the spot

Combined power:

Combined with drag-and-drop for moving animals, inline editing makes the rack page a powerful all-in-one management interface.

In the rack page, empty rack positions are displayed as blank slots.

Creating cages:

You can click on an empty slot to create a new cage at that position.

Why this matters:

Makes it easy to:

• See where you have available space on your racks
• Add cages exactly where they belong physically

Visual indicators:

Empty slots are visual indicators of your rack's capacity and utilization.

Each cage card in the rack page has a menu with quick actions:

• View cage details
• Edit cage information
• Add a new animal to the cage
• End the cage
• Other management options

Animal cards:

The animal cards within cages also have their own menus for animal-specific actions.

Purpose:

These context menus provide fast access to common operations without leaving the rack grid view.

You can move animals from three places:

• The animal detail page
• The cage detail page
• Drag-and-drop on the rack page

What happens when you move an animal:

The system automatically handles mating logic:

• Destination cage gets a mature male + female → new mating is created
• Source cage loses its breeding pair → mating is disbanded

Strain selection:

You may be prompted to select a litter strain when a move triggers a new mating.

📱 The mobile app also supports animal moves.

Moustra supports creating multiple animals at once using the Bulk Animal Creation form.

How it works:

Instead of adding animals one at a time, you get a spreadsheet-like table where you can add rows for each animal.

For each row, enter:

• Physical tag
• Sex
• Date of birth
• Wean date
• Strain
• Genotype
• Sire
• Dam
• Other fields

Workflow:

1. Use the Add Row button to add more animals
2. Customize which columns are visible using the Column button
3. Clear all entries with Clear All
4. Select a target cage and cage strain
5. Submit to create all animals at once

Ideal for:

• Recording a litter of pups
• Receiving a batch of animals

To add a single animal:

1. Navigate to the Animals list
2. Click the New or Add button
3. Fill in the animal details

Required field:

• Physical tag

Optional fields:

• Sex
• Date of birth
• Wean date
• Strain
• Cage assignment
• Genotype
• Sire
• Dam
• Comments

Auto-mating:

If the cage already has animals of the opposite sex and both are mature → a mating may be auto-created.

Alternative creation methods:

You can also add animals directly from:

• A cage's detail page
• The rack page

Animals are identified by a physical tag (e.g., an ear tag number).

Key information tracked:

• Sex (Male, Female, or Unknown)
• Date of birth
• Wean date
• Strain
• Genotypes
• Current cage
• Birth litter
• Sire (father)
• Dam (mother)

Maturity:

An animal is considered mature once its wean date has passed OR it is ≥21 days old.

Ending animals:

Animals can be ended by setting an end date with an end type and end reason from the End Animal page.

Additional tracking:

• Tail biopsy dates
• Procedure dates
• Received dates

Attachments:

Animals support file attachments (images, documents) for records like genotyping results or photos.

To edit an animal's details:

Go to the animal detail page.

Fields you can update:

• Physical tag
• Sex
• Date of birth
• Wean date
• Strain
• Cage assignment
• Genotype
• Sire
• Dam
• Comment
• Tail biopsy date
• Procedure date
• Received date
• Identification method

Auto-mating:

If you change the animal's cage, the system automatically handles mating logic (creating or disbanding matings as needed).

Inline editing:

You can also edit animals inline from the data grid in list views by clicking the edit button on any row.

When an animal reaches the end of its lifecycle, you can record it by navigating to the End Animal page.

Required information:

• End date
• End type (e.g., Sacrifice, Found Dead, Euthanized)
• End reason (e.g., Experimental Use, Breeding Retirement, Health Issues)
• Optional comment for additional context

Customization:

Both end types and end reasons are customizable per lab — create your own categories from Lab Settings to match your facility's protocols.

Record-keeping:

Ended animals are preserved for record-keeping and reporting but are filtered out of active views by default.

Moustra tracks animal parentage through sire (father) and dam (mother) relationships.

Structure:

• Each animal can have one sire
• Each animal can have multiple dams

Automatic inheritance:

When you create a litter from a mating, the offspring automatically inherit parentage from the mating participants.

Manual setting:

You can also manually set or update sire and dam on individual animals from their detail page.

Why parentage matters:

• Strain tracking
• Genotype prediction
• Maintaining breeding records

During import:

You can map Sire Tag and Dam Tag columns to establish parent-child relationships.

You can attach files to animal records for documentation purposes.

Supported attachment types:

• Images (photos of the animal)
• PDFs (genotyping results, protocols)
• Other documents

How to attach:

Upload attachments from the animal detail page. You can upload multiple attachments per animal.

Use cases:

• Genotyping gel images
• Phenotype photos
• Veterinary notes
• Any other relevant documentation

An animal is considered mature (and eligible for mating) when:

• Its wean date has passed OR
• It is ≥21 days old

Impact on auto-mating:

This maturity check drives auto-mating logic:

• Place a mature male + mature female in the same cage → mating is automatically created

Juvenile animals:

Juvenile animals (those that haven't reached maturity) are excluded from mating consideration.

Configuration:

The 21-day default aligns with standard mouse weaning age but can be adjusted in your lab settings.

Moustra supports tracking multiple dams (mothers) per animal.

When this is needed:

Accommodates scenarios like cross-fostering, where pups may be nursed by a foster mother in addition to their biological mother.

What you can record:

Both biological and foster dam relationships on an animal's detail page.

Why this matters:

This level of detail is important for accurate breeding records and genetic tracking in research colonies.

Animals in Moustra can be recorded as:

• Male (M)
• Female (F)
• Unknown (U)

Unknown sex:

Young pups that haven't been sexed yet should be recorded as Unknown.

During data import:

The system accepts multiple format variations:

• M, Male
• F, Female
• U, Unknown

Auto-mating restriction:

Animals with unknown sex are excluded from auto-mating — only confirmed males and females can form mating pairs.

Best practice:

Update the sex once you've sexed the animal to enable proper mating automation.

Moustra lets you track important procedure dates on each animal.

Tail biopsy date:

Records when a tail snip was taken for genotyping.

Procedure date:

Tracks when other procedures were performed.

Why track these dates:

• Maintain compliance records
• Ensure you know which animals have been sampled

Setting dates:

You can set these dates when creating or editing an animal from its detail page.

The received date on an animal tracks when it was received into your facility — whether from a vendor, collaborating lab, or animal transfer.

Distinction:

This is separate from the date of birth.

Why track this:

• Compliance
• Quarantine tracking
• Vendor record-keeping

Setting the date:

Set the received date from the animal's detail page.

Moustra provides a Family Tree view for each animal, showing its lineage across generations.

The family tree displays three levels:

Parents: The sire and dams from the animal's birth litter

Current Generation: Siblings from the same litter

Children: Offspring in litters where this animal is a parent

Each animal card shows:

• Tag
• Sex
• Date of birth
• Strain
• Genotype

Navigation:

You can click on any animal card to open its own family tree or detail page.

Access:

Access the family tree from the animal detail page.

Moustra supports ending multiple animals at once from the End Animal page.

How to end multiple animals:

1. Select the animals you want to end from the data grid
2. Set the end date, end type, and end reason
3. Confirm

What happens:

All selected animals will be marked as ended with the same details.

Speed advantage:

Much faster than ending animals one at a time.

Use cases:

• Culling a litter
• Retiring a breeding group
• Processing animals at an experimental endpoint

The dashboard provides a visual overview of your colony.

It includes:

• Mice count by age distribution
• Sex ratio breakdown (male/female/unknown)
• Animals due for weaning
• Data distributed by lab member
• Cage utilization metrics
• AI-powered onboarding suggestions

Availability:

Both the web and mobile app have dashboards.

Real-time updates:

The dashboard updates in real-time as you make changes to your colony data.

The Cage Utilization widget on your dashboard monitors how crowded your cages are.

Flagging system:

• At Risk — nearing capacity
• In Violation — overcrowded

What the dashboard shows:

• Overall lab utilization percentage
• Number of at-risk cages
• Number of in-violation cages
• Links to each flagged cage for quick action

Why this matters:

Monitoring cage utilization helps maintain animal welfare standards and comply with facility regulations.

The Animals to Wean section on your dashboard lists all animals that are approaching or past their weaning date.

Purpose:

Helps you stay on top of weaning schedules and ensures no pups are left in breeding cages past their wean date.

When animals appear here:

Calculated wean date (date of birth + your lab's wean day setting) is today or in the past AND they haven't been moved or weaned yet.

Best practice:

Check this section daily to maintain proper colony management.

You can import your colony data via CSV or Excel files (up to 10MB).

The AI-assisted import follows 3 steps:

1. Upload & Analyze:

• Drag and drop or select your .csv, .xls, or .xlsx file
• Moustra's AI instantly analyzes the file structure
• Detects delimiters, identifies headers, checks importability
• Files must contain one row per animal

The AI will reject:

• Batch/census files (rows representing groups instead of individuals)
• Side-by-side table layouts
• Non-animal data files
• Shows clear explanation of what to fix

2. Map Columns:

• AI suggests how your columns map to Moustra fields:
  • Physical Tag
  • Sex
  • Date of Birth
  • Strain
  • Genotype
  • Cage Tag
  • etc.
• Review and adjust the mapping as needed
• Unmapped columns are safely ignored

3. Review & Import:

• See a summary of what will be created (new strains, cages, genes)
• Start the import
• Live progress bar shows row-by-row progress
• Once complete, see results:
  • Counts of created and updated records
  • Row-level errors

What the system handles automatically:

• International date formats (MM/DD/YYYY, DD/MM/YYYY, DD.MM.YYYY)
• Sex values in multiple languages (Male/Female, M/F, Macho/Hembra, H for female)
• Various delimiters (comma, semicolon, tab)

All list views (animals, cages, matings, litters, strains) support filtering and sorting.

Animal filters:

• Sex
• Strain
• Cage
• Alive/ended status
• And more

Cage filters:

• Status (Stock/Mating)
• Rack
• Strain

Other lists:

Mating and litter lists support their own specific filters.

Combining filters:

Filters can be combined to narrow down exactly the records you need.

Mobile support:

The mobile app also supports filtering on all list screens.

Search bar:

Use the search bar to quickly find specific records by tag or name.

Rack page search:

In the rack page, you can also search within a rack to highlight specific cages or animals.

Moustra keeps a history of all your data imports.

From the Data Integration page, you can view:

• Past imports with their status (success, partial, or error)
• Original file name
• Timestamp
• Validation issues

Detailed results:

Each import record shows:

• Which rows succeeded
• Which rows had errors

Why this matters:

Helps you track what data was imported and when, and troubleshoot any issues with past imports.

You can edit animal, cage, and other records directly in the data grid without navigating to a separate edit page.

How to enable:

1. Click the Edit Mode button in the toolbar (top-right of the data grid)
2. The button highlights when active

With Edit Mode on:

1. Double-click any cell to switch it to edit mode
2. Make your changes inline
3. Press Enter or click outside to save
4. Press Escape to cancel

Safety feature:

When Edit Mode is off, double-clicking does nothing → prevents accidental edits.

Speed advantage:

Faster for quick updates like:

• Changing a sex value
• Updating a tag
• Correcting a date

When to use the detail page:

For more complex edits (like changing genotypes or uploading attachments), use the full detail page.

Moustra handles multiple date formats.

During data import:

The system recognizes various formats including:

• MM/DD/YYYY
• YYYY-MM-DD
• DD/MM/YYYY
• Others

UI display:

Dates are displayed in MM/DD/YYYY format (e.g., on printed cage labels).

Key date fields:

• Date of birth
• Wean date
• Setup date
• End date
• Tail biopsy date
• Procedure date
• Received date

Why consistency matters:

Consistent date entry helps maintain accurate colony records.

When you upload a file, Moustra's AI performs two stages of analysis.

First stage — raw file analysis:

• Detect the delimiter
• Locate the header row (which may not be the first row)
• Identify junk or metadata rows to skip
• Detect date formats and non-standard sex values

Second stage — column mapping:

• Maps your columns to Moustra fields
• Example mappings:
  • 'Mouse ID' → Physical Tag
  • 'Gender' → Sex
  • 'DOB' → Date of Birth

Intelligence:

The AI understands column names in multiple languages and abbreviations.

Review and override:

You can review and override every mapping on the mapping screen.

Available target fields for animal import:

• Physical Tag
• Sex
• Date of Birth
• Wean Date
• Strain
• Genotype
• Cage Tag
• Comment
• Sire Tag
• Dam Tag

What happens to unmapped columns:

Columns you don't map are safely ignored during import.

Warnings:

If the AI detects issues needing attention (like notes embedded between data rows or corrupted data), they'll be shown as warnings. Routine items like delimiter detection and date format handling are taken care of automatically without any warnings.

In the Animals, Cages, and Strains list views, you can add new records directly from the data grid using the Add Row button in the toolbar.

How it works:

Creates a new row with default values that you can immediately edit inline.

For animals:

The default wean date is calculated based on your lab's wean day setting.

Speed advantage:

This is the fastest way to add records without navigating to a separate creation page — perfect for quick data entry.

The Data Integration page is your hub for importing data into Moustra.

At the top:

You'll see the AI-Assisted Import banner — click Start Import to begin.

Import history:

The page also shows your import history with:

• Status
• File name
• Date
• Results for each past import

The AI-assisted import walks you through 3 steps:

1. Upload — AI analyzes your file
2. Map — review column mappings
3. Review & Import — confirm and watch progress

Access:

Navigate to Data Integration from the main sidebar menu.

Every data grid in Moustra has a toolbar with several controls:

Add Row: Create a new record inline

Open/Close Filters: Toggle header-based column filters

Columns: Show/hide columns

Filter: Advanced filter panel

Density: Adjust row spacing:

• Compact
• Standard
• Comfortable

Reset: Restore default column settings

Flexibility:

These controls give you full flexibility over how your data is displayed and filtered.

Moustra validates your data at two levels during import.

First level — Pre-import file check:

The AI checks whether your file is importable:

• Must have one row per animal in a single table layout

Files that are rejected:

• Batch/census data (rows representing groups instead of individuals)
• Side-by-side table layouts
• Non-animal data files
• Shows clear explanation of what to fix

Second level — Row validation:

During import, each row is validated individually:

• Valid date formats
• Valid sex values
• Data consistency

Auto-creation:

The system automatically creates strains, cages, genes, and alleles that don't yet exist. A summary of what will be created is shown before you confirm.

Error handling:

If row-level errors occur (like unparseable dates):

• Those rows are skipped
• Errors are shown in the results

Duplicate handling:

Animals with the same physical tag in the same cage are updated rather than duplicated.

Data grids support header filters — a filter row directly below the column headers where you can type filter values for each column.

Toggle:

Toggle header filters on/off using the Open Filters / Close Filters button in the toolbar.

Filter operators by column type:

Text columns: Contains / equals

Date columns: Before / after / between

Boolean columns: True / false

Select columns: Dropdown selection

Use case:

Use header filters for quick, visual filtering without opening the advanced filter panel.

You can export your colony data to CSV files from any list view (animals, cages, matings, litters, strains, plug events).

How to export:

Look for the export or download button in the toolbar above the data grid.

What gets exported:

The export respects your current filters and sort order.

Example:

If you've filtered to show only active female animals of a specific strain → the CSV will contain exactly that subset.

Opening exported files:

Exported CSV files can be opened in:

• Excel
• Google Sheets
• Any spreadsheet application

When exporting data, the export uses whatever filters you currently have applied to the list view.

How it works:

Narrow down to exactly the data you need before exporting.

Example workflow:

1. Filter the animal list by strain and active status
2. Export
3. You'll get only active animals of that strain

No filters:

If no filters are applied, the export includes all records.

Column selection:

The column selection in the data grid also affects which columns appear in the export.

Moustra exports data in CSV (comma-separated values) format.

Universal compatibility:

CSV files open in:

• Microsoft Excel
• Google Sheets
• Apple Numbers
• Any other spreadsheet application

What's included:

The exported file includes column headers matching the field names shown in the data grid.

Date format:

For date fields, the export uses a standard format for consistency.

Moustra is available as a web application and a mobile app (iOS and Android).

Platform sync:

Both platforms share the same data and sync in real-time.

Web app unique features:

• Data import
• Cage label printing
• Rack page with drag-and-drop
• Detailed table views with customization
• Weekly reports
• Integrations setup (Slack, Teams)

Mobile app excels at:

• Barcode/QR code scanning with the phone camera
• On-the-go data entry
• Quick cage lookups
• Colony dashboard
• Colony setup wizard

Seamless sync:

Changes on one platform are immediately reflected on the other.

Moustra takes data security seriously.

Authentication:

User authentication is handled through a secure identity provider.

Data isolation:

Your lab's data is isolated — you can only access data belonging to your lab.

Security auditing:

Login history is tracked for security auditing.

File storage:

Files and attachments are stored securely in the cloud.

Standards:

The platform follows standard security practices for research data management.

You can submit feedback directly from within Moustra using the Feedback page.

What to report:

• Bugs
• Feature requests
• Suggestions

Tracking:

Your feedback is linked to your account so the team can follow up if needed.

Email support:

You can also reach the team at admin@moustra.com.

Why feedback matters:

Whether it's a bug, a usability issue, or a feature idea, your input helps shape what gets built next.

Need help or have questions?

Contact the Moustra team:

admin@moustra.com

In-app feedback:

You can also submit feedback directly within the app using the Feedback page.

Cheese AI:

The Cheese AI assistant can answer many questions about how to use Moustra features.

Email for:

• Account issues
• Billing questions
• Technical support

The Colony Setup Wizard guides new users through setting up their colony step by step.

The wizard walks you through:

1. Welcome: Overview of what to expect

2. Strains & Genotypes: Define your strains and gene/allele combinations

3. Racks: Create racks and set dimensions

4. Cages & Animals: Create cages, assign them to racks, and add animals

5. Review: Verify everything before finalizing

Features:

• Supports creating matings within cages
• Lets you undo actions
• Designed to get you from zero to a fully configured colony in minutes

Access:

Access the wizard from the onboarding page or dashboard.

In the Strains & Genotypes step of the Colony Wizard, you define the genetic lines in your colony.

How to create strains:

1. Select or add genes
2. Choose their allele combinations
3. Build complex genotypes by combining multiple genes

Automatic computation:

As you create strains, their genotype information is computed automatically.

Availability:

These strains will be available when you create animals in the next steps.

Later additions:

If you need to add strains later, you can always do so from the main Strains page.

During the Colony Setup Wizard, the Cages & Animals step lets you create cages and populate them with animals on a visual rack grid.

Workflow:

1. Click on empty rack positions to create cages
2. Add animals with their:
   • Physical tags
   • Sex
   • Date of birth
   • Genotypes

Mating setup:

If a cage contains mature males and females, you can set up matings directly in the wizard.

Litter creation:

The wizard also supports creating litters within mating cages.

Speed advantage:

This bulk creation workflow is much faster than adding records one at a time.

Moustra includes interactive guided tours that walk you through the interface.

Onboarding tour:

Activates when you first log in and highlights key features and navigation elements.

Additional tours:

Available for specific workflows like animal creation.

Reset tours:

You can reset tours from your account settings if you want to see them again.

Visual indicators:

Tours use beacon indicators to draw attention to important UI elements.

New labs can generate sample data to explore Moustra's features without entering real colony data.

The sample dataset creates:

• Example strains
• Genes
• Alleles
• Cages
• Animals
• Matings
• Litters

Result:

Gives you a fully populated colony to experiment with.

Limitation:

This can only be done once per lab.

Use cases:

• Training new lab members
• Evaluating Moustra before committing your real data

Cleanup:

You can always delete sample data later and start fresh with your actual colony.

To get started with Moustra:

Sign up at moustra.com or through the mobile app.

How to sign up:

1. Enter your email and password to create an account
2. You'll be guided through the onboarding process:
   • Setting up your lab
   • Choosing your position
   • Optionally running the Colony Wizard or importing data

Joining an existing lab:

If you were invited to an existing lab, use the invite link from your email instead — this will add you to the existing lab rather than creating a new one.

If a lab admin invites you to their lab, you'll receive an email with an invite link.

How to join:

1. Click the link to accept the invitation
2. Set up your account

What happens:

• You'll be added to the existing lab with User role
• Can immediately start viewing and managing colony data

No new lab needed:

You join the existing one with all its data, strains, racks, and animals already set up.

Moustra includes built-in IACUC protocol tracking to help your lab stay compliant.

What you can do:

• Enter your approved IACUC protocols
• Track animal assignments
• Monitor expiration dates
• Track count limits

Important note:

This is not institutional IACUC management; it's your lab's tool to track compliance against already-approved protocols.

Each protocol has:

• Number
• Title
• Expiration date
• Pain category (USDA B/C/D/E)
• Maximum animal count

Automatic monitoring:

The system automatically:

• Monitors animal counts
• Warns when you approach limits
• Alerts when protocols are nearing expiration

Access:

Navigate to the Compliance section from the sidebar.

To create a protocol:

1. Go to Compliance > Protocols
2. Click New Protocol
3. Enter:
   • Protocol number (your institutional IACUC number)
   • Title
   • Expiration date
   • Pain category (B, C, D, or E)
   • Maximum approved animal count

Optional fields:

• Approval date
• Effective date
• Species
• Strain restrictions
• Funding source
• Description
• 3Rs statement

Status lifecycle:

• Once created, the protocol is Active
• System automatically transitions to Expiring when within 30 days of expiration
• Expired when past the date

Editing:

You can edit protocol details at any time.

Deleting:

Deleting a protocol marks it as Closed — it remains in your records for audit purposes.

You can assign animals to protocols individually, in bulk, or by cage.

Individual assignment:

• From the protocol detail page
• Add an animal and specify its role:
  • Primary
  • Secondary
  • Breeding
  • Experimental

Bulk assignment: Select multiple animals and assign them all at once.

Cage assignment: Assign all living animals in a cage to a protocol in one action.

What's tracked:

• Assigned date
• Who made the assignment

Removing animals:

When an animal is removed from a protocol:

• Removal date is recorded
• Reason is recorded

Automatic counting:

The protocol's current animal count updates automatically after every assignment or removal.

Limit warnings:

If assigning animals would exceed the maximum count → you'll receive a warning.

When your IACUC approves changes to a protocol, record them as amendments in Moustra.

Amendment types:

• Modification
• Renewal
• Personnel change
• Animal count change
• Species addition
• Other

How to create an amendment:

From the protocol detail page, create an amendment with:

• Amendment number
• Type
• Description
• Dates (submitted, approved, effective)

Applying amendments:

When ready, apply the amendment to update the protocol's fields:

• New animal count limits
• Updated expiration date
• Changed pain category

Audit trail:

The system preserves a snapshot of previous values for audit purposes.

Moustra automatically generates compliance alerts to keep your lab informed.

Expiration alerts fire at:

• 90 days before expiration
• 60 days before expiration
• 30 days before expiration
• When protocol expires

Animal count alerts fire when:

• You reach the warning threshold (default 80% of maximum)
• You exceed the maximum

Where alerts appear:

Alerts appear in the Compliance section.

Acknowledgment:

Can be acknowledged by any lab member.

Customization:

You can customize:

• Alert timing and thresholds per protocol
• Lab-wide defaults
• Toggle specific alert categories (expiration, animal count, coverage) on or off in Lab Settings

The Compliance Summary provides a quick overview of your lab's protocol status.

It shows:

• Total active protocols
• Protocols expiring within 30/60/90 days
• Expired unresolved protocols
• Protocols over or near their animal limit
• Animals not assigned to any protocol
• Unacknowledged alerts

Purpose:

Use this dashboard to identify compliance issues at a glance.

Real-time updates:

The summary updates in real-time as you assign animals, create protocols, or acknowledge alerts.

You can attach documents to any protocol for record-keeping.

Document types:

• Approval letter
• Amendment
• Annual review
• Correspondence
• Other

How to upload:

Upload files from the protocol detail page.

What each document shows:

• Who uploaded it
• When it was uploaded

Use cases:

• Storing official IACUC approval letters
• Amendment approvals
• Annual review documentation alongside the protocol record

Management:

Documents can be downloaded or deleted by lab members.

Moustra comes with a default US PHS/USDA compliance policy that sets standard rules:

• 3-year maximum protocol duration
• Annual review required
• Alert thresholds at 80% animal count
• Expiration alerts at 90/60/30 days

Customization:

Your institution can customize these settings by creating an institutional compliance policy.

Policy layers:

The policy works in three layers:

1. Global PHS/USDA defaults
2. Institution overrides
3. Individual protocol settings

Configuration:

Configure your institution and policy from the Compliance Settings section.

Moustra integrates with Slack to send colony notifications directly to your team.

To set up:

1. Go to Lab Settings > Integrations
2. Click Connect to Slack to authorize Moustra with your workspace
3. Select a channel for lab-wide notifications

Two notification modes available:

• Channel Notifications: All lab activity posted to the selected channel
• Direct Messages: Owners receive a DM when someone else updates their items

Disconnecting:

You can disconnect Slack at any time from the settings page.

Requirements:

Slack integration requires admin permissions.

Moustra sends email notifications to keep you informed about your colony.

Daily reports:

Summarize colony activity and are sent to users who have enabled them in their account settings.

Item update notifications:

Alert you when another lab member modifies your animals, cages, matings, or litters.

Default state:

Email notifications are enabled by default and can be toggled in your account settings.

Lab-level control:

Lab admins can also enable or disable email notifications at the lab level.

Moustra integrates with Microsoft Teams to deliver colony notifications.

To set up:

1. Go to Lab Settings > Integrations
2. Click Connect to Teams to authenticate with your Microsoft account
3. Select a team and channel for notifications

Browsing:

You can browse available teams and channels before selecting.

Disconnecting:

Disconnect at any time from the settings page.

Requirements:

Teams integration requires admin permissions.

A litter represents a group of offspring from a mating.

Key features:

• Each litter is linked to the parent mating
• Inherits its strain from the mating automatically
• Tracks date of birth for all pups in the group

What you can view:

• Litter tag
• Date of birth and wean date
• Associated pups
• Parent mating information

Adding pups:

After creating a litter, you can continue adding pups to it as needed. All pups automatically inherit the strain from the mating.

Weaning is the process of separating pups from their parents.

How Moustra tracks weaning:

• Wean dates tracked at litter level AND individual animal level
• Default weaning age: 21 days after birth
• Customizable in your lab settings

Dashboard reminder:

Your dashboard shows a list of animals due for weaning → never miss one.

To wean a pup:

1. Go to the animal detail page or litter detail page
2. Set a wean date
3. Once weaned, animals are considered mature
4. Mature animals can be moved to their own cages

To record a new litter:

1. Go to the mating detail page
2. Click the option to create a litter
3. Set the date of birth for the litter

What happens automatically:

• Litter inherits the strain from the mating
• Pups are automatically linked to the mating's parent animals (sire and dams)

Adding pups:

After creating the litter, add individual pups with:

• Physical tags
• Sex
• Genotype information

Alternative creation method:

You can also create litters from the litter list page by selecting the parent mating.

The litter detail page shows all information about a litter:

• Litter tag
• Date of birth
• Wean date
• Strain
• Parent mating
• Associated comments

It includes two animal lists:

Parent Animals: The sire and dams from the mating

Pups: The offspring

Management actions:

• Add new pups to the litter
• Edit pup details
• Set individual wean dates

Central management:

The litter detail page is the central place for managing a batch of offspring.

Litters can be ended to indicate that the breeding event is complete and no more pups will be added.

How to end a litter:

End a litter by setting the end date from the litter detail page.

What this means:

This is a record-keeping action — the litter and all its data are preserved.

View filtering:

Ended litters can be filtered out of active views.

When to end a litter:

You might end a litter once all pups have been weaned and assigned to their own cages.

Moustra automatically creates matings when the right conditions are met in a cage.

How it works:

• Move animals between cages
• Cage ends up with ≥1 mature male + ≥1 mature female → mating is created automatically
• No extra steps needed

Maturity criteria:

• Animal is ≥21 days old OR
• Has passed its wean date

What gets auto-configured:

• Mating strain determined from animals' genotypes
• Mating tag generated from animals' physical tags
• Cage status changes from Stock → Mating

Limitations:

• Only one active mating per cage at a time
• Juvenile or unknown-sex animals don't count toward mating creation

Matings are automatically disbanded when a cage no longer has at least one mature male and one mature female. This usually happens when you move an animal out of a mating cage.

What happens when a mating disbands:

• Cage status changes from Mating → Stock
• Mating appears in your mating history with a disband date
• Participant list is preserved for review

Manual disbanding:

You can also manually disband a mating from the mating detail page if needed.

Each mating tracks its participants — the animals involved in the breeding pair or group.

Mating tag:

Generated from the participants' physical tags.

While active:

The participant list updates as animals are added to or removed from the cage.

When disbanded:

The final participant list is preserved as a snapshot that you can always reference for historical record-keeping.

What each mating shows:

• Strain
• Creation date
• Disband date

While matings are typically created automatically when you place mature males and females in the same cage, you can also create matings from the Matings page.

How to create manually:

1. Select the animals
2. Select the cage for the mating
3. Litter strain is determined from the participants' genotypes

When manual creation is useful:

• Want to set up a mating before moving animals
• Auto-mating logic doesn't apply to your specific situation

From the mating detail page, you can:

• Update the litter strain
• Add comments

What you can view:

• Current participants
• Associated litters
• Mating's cage

Active mating updates:

While a mating is active, changes to the cage's animals (adding or removing) automatically update the participant list.

Disbanded matings:

Once a mating is disbanded, its participant list is frozen and cannot be modified.

While matings are usually disbanded automatically when animals are moved out, you can also manually disband a mating.

How to disband manually:

1. Navigate to the mating detail page
2. Select the disband option

What happens:

• Ends the mating
• Preserves the final participant list
• Returns the cage status to Stock

Use case:

Manual disbanding is useful when you want to end a breeding arrangement without physically moving animals.

Moustra offers a mobile app for iOS and Android.

Key mobile features:

• Barcode/QR code scanning for quick cage lookup
• Viewing and editing:
  • Animals
  • Cages
  • Matings
  • Litters
  • Strains
• Colony dashboard with charts and analytics
• Creating new animals
• Managing lab users
• Colony setup wizard
• Accessing lab and account settings

Real-time sync:

The mobile app syncs with the web application in real-time — changes made on either platform are immediately reflected.

Use case:

Manage your colony on the go from your phone or tablet.

The Moustra mobile app has a built-in barcode scanner accessible from the main navigation.

To scan:

1. Tap the scan button in the app
2. Point your phone's camera at a cage label barcode or QR code
3. App automatically detects and reads the code
4. You're taken directly to that cage's detail page

Supported formats:

• QR Code
• Code 128
• Code 39
• EAN-13, EAN-8
• UPC-A, UPC-E

Manual entry:

If the camera isn't available, a manual entry field lets you type in the barcode value.

Speed advantage:

This is the fastest way to look up cage information while walking through your animal facility.

The mobile app offers two ways to view cages:

List View:

• Shows cages in a scrollable table
• Columns for cage tag, strain, status, and other details
• Ideal for browsing and filtering

Grid View:

• Displays cages on their rack positions (just like the rack page on web)
• Zoom, search, and tap cages for details
• Supports creating new cages on empty rack positions
• Adding or editing racks

Switching:

You can switch between views.

You can create new animals directly from the mobile app.

How to create:

1. Navigate to the Animals screen
2. Tap the add button
3. Fill in the animal details:
   • Physical tag
   • Sex
   • Date of birth
   • Wean date
   • Strain
   • Cage
   • Genotype
   • Sire
   • Dam

Feature parity:

The mobile form supports the same fields as the web application.

Use case:

Especially useful when you're in the animal facility and need to record new animals on the spot — for example, when tagging newly weaned pups.

Tapping a cage on the mobile app opens its detail screen.

What's shown:

• Cage tag
• Strain
• Barcode
• Status
• All housed animals

From here you can:

• View individual animal details
• Add new animals to the cage
• Edit cage information
• Navigate to associated matings or litters

Feature parity:

The cage detail screen on mobile gives you the same management capabilities as the web version.

The mobile dashboard shows the same colony analytics as the web version:

• Mice count by age distribution
• Sex ratio breakdown
• Animals approaching wean date
• Data distributed by lab member

Optimization:

Charts are optimized for phone screens.

Real-time updates:

The dashboard updates in real-time as you make changes.

Use case:

A quick way to check colony health while away from your computer.

The mobile app provides full access to matings and litters.

Matings:

• View active and past matings
• See mating participants
• Check associated litters

Litters:

• View pup lists
• Parent animals
• Litter details

Auto-creation note:

While matings are usually created automatically through animal movements, you can view and manage all breeding data from your phone.

Use case:

Useful for checking breeding status during facility walkthroughs.

View and manage all your strains from the mobile app.

The strains screen:

Lists all active strains with:

• Names
• Genotype information

Details:

Tap a strain to see its details and associated animals.

Consistency:

The mobile app shows strain information consistently with the web application.

Use case:

Reference strain data while in the facility.

Lab settings and user management are accessible from the mobile app's settings screen.

What you can do:

• View lab configuration
• Manage notification preferences
• See lab member details

Admin users:

Can view and manage team members directly from their phone.

Additional access:

The settings screen also provides access to subscription details and plan management.

You can add notes to animals, cages, matings, and litters.

What are notes:

Notes are free-text entries that let you record observations, reminders, or any additional context.

What each note shows:

• Who created it
• When it was created

Use cases:

• Document health observations
• Experimental protocols
• Breeding plans
• Information that doesn't fit into standard fields

Adding notes:

Multiple notes can be added to a single record from its detail page.

Moustra supports plug tracking and embryonic day (E-day) calculation for timed mating workflows.

Recording plug events:

When you find a vaginal plug on a female mouse, you can record a plug event.

Automatic E-day calculation:

The system automatically calculates:

• Current E-day (days since plug + 0.5, following the standard convention where E0.5 = the morning the plug is found)
• Expected delivery window (E18–E20)

What's linked:

Plug events are linked to:

• The female
• The sire
• The active mating

Management:

View all plug events from the plug events list, filter by active/completed status, and track pregnancies across your colony.

To record a plug event:

1. Go to the plug events section
2. Create a new plug event
3. Specify:
   • The female mouse (dam)
   • The plug date
   • Optionally: the male (sire) and the associated mating

Automatic calculations:

The system automatically calculates the expected delivery window (plug date + 18 to 20 days).

Optional fields:

• Who checked the plug
• Comments

Plug check record:

A plug check record is automatically created when you record a plug event.

Embryonic day (E-day) is calculated automatically from the plug date.

Convention:

By convention, E0.5 is the morning the plug is found (mating is assumed to have occurred the previous night).

Current E-day formula:

For any active plug event:

Current E-day = (today − plug date) + 0.5

Mouse gestation:

Typically 19–21 days, so delivery is expected around E19–E21.

Automatic updates:

Moustra automatically sets the expected delivery window and the E-day updates each day — you don't need to update it manually.

If you plan to harvest embryos at a specific developmental stage, you can set a target E-day on any plug event.

Example:

Set the target to E13.5 for MEF generation.

Automatic calculation:

The system automatically calculates the target date from:

Target date = plug date + target E-day

Updating:

You can update the target E-day at any time by editing the plug event.

Common target E-days:

• E9.5 — early organogenesis
• E12.5–E14.5 — MEF generation
• E15.5–E18.5 — late fetal analysis

When a pregnancy concludes, record the outcome on the plug event.

Available outcomes:

Live Birth: Links to a litter record

Harvest: Records embryo collection — set the embryos collected count

Resorption: Pregnancy was reabsorbed

No Pregnancy: Plug was detected but no pregnancy resulted

Cancelled: Female removed from study or false positive

Recording:

Set the outcome date and the system automatically calculates the outcome E-day.

Live births:

For live births, you can link the plug event to the resulting litter record.

The plug events list supports filtering and sorting.

You can filter by:

• Female (specific dam)
• Male (specific sire)
• Strain
• Outcome status
• Whether the event is active (no outcome yet) or completed
• Plug date
• Creation date

Sort by:

• Plug date
• Target E-day
• Outcome
• Creation date

Active vs completed:

Active plug events (no outcome recorded) represent ongoing pregnancies.

Quick view:

Use the active filter to see all current pregnancies at a glance.

Plug events can be linked to an active mating.

When creating a plug event:

You can select the associated mating.

Typical structure:

The female and male are typically the participants of that mating.

Why link:

This link helps track which mating produced which pregnancy.

Optional linking:

You can also create plug events without linking to a mating if needed (e.g., for natural matings not tracked as formal pairings in the system).

You can add notes to any plug event for additional context.

Use cases:

• Recording observations like:
  • Plug quality (solid vs. partial)
  • Female condition
  • Special handling instructions

How to add:

Add notes from the plug event detail page.

What notes show:

• Who created them
• When they were created

Persistence:

Notes persist as part of the plug event's history.

Plug event data can be exported to CSV from the plug events list.

The export includes:

• Female
• Male
• Plug date
• Current E-day
• Target E-day
• Target date
• Expected delivery window
• Outcome
• Outcome date
• Outcome E-day
• Embryos collected
• Any linked litter

Use cases:

• Reporting
• IACUC documentation
• Analysis in external tools

Moustra generates automated weekly reports that track colony trends over time.

Reports include sections for:

Dashboard overview: Key metrics

Cage analysis:

• Total cages
• Estimated cage costs at ~$0.83/cage/day
• Ownership distribution
• Utilization trends

Research data:

• Breeding activity
• Litter counts

Data integrity:

• Record completeness scores over time

Visualization:

Reports use line charts and data cards to visualize trends across weeks.

Access:

Access reports from the Reports page in the sidebar.

Use cases:

• Review colony performance
• Track costs
• Identify trends

Moustra automatically captures daily snapshots of your colony's state.

What's tracked:

• Total animals
• Cages
• Matings
• Other metrics

Purpose:

Daily records are used to power the trends in your weekly reports and provide a historical view of how your colony has changed over time.

No action needed:

The system captures these snapshots automatically.

You can customize your account settings including:

• Enabling daily reports for colony updates
• Configuring custom wean date settings
• Enabling item update notifications
• Toggling comment fields
• Managing your onboarding tour status

Scope:

These settings are per-user and can be adjusted from your account settings page.

Daily reports:

Provide regular summaries of your colony activity delivered to your email.

Lab-wide settings allow admins to configure defaults that apply to all lab members.

You can set:

• Default rack dimensions (width and height)
• Default wean date (number of days, default is 21)
• Whether to use Electronic IDs (EIDs)
• Notification preferences

Management:

Lab settings are managed by lab admins from the Settings page.

Impact:

Changes to lab settings affect new records — existing records keep their original values.

Moustra's data tables for animals, cages, matings, litters, and strains are customizable.

You can configure:

• Which columns are visible
• Column order
• Preferred page size (number of rows per page)

Per-user settings:

Table settings are saved per-user so each lab member can have their own preferred view.

Data grid features:

• Sorting
• Filtering
• Inline editing

Toolbar access:

Use the toolbar to access table configuration options.

Bulk creation:

Column visibility settings also apply to the bulk animal creation form.

Each lab can create custom end types and end reasons to match their facility's protocols and terminology.

End types:

Describe how an animal's life ended.

Examples:

• CO2 Euthanasia
• Cervical Dislocation
• Found Dead
• Transferred Out

End reasons:

Describe why.

Examples:

• Experimental Endpoint
• Breeding Retirement
• Health Decline
• Surplus

Management:

Lab admins can add, edit, and manage these from Lab Settings.

Why customize:

Custom categories ensure your records align with your IACUC protocols and institutional requirements.

Genotypes in Moustra consist of genes (genetic loci like Cxcl12, Rosa26) and alleles (variants like +/-, fl/fl, WT).

Structure:

• Each animal can have multiple gene entries representing its genotype

Default alleles include:

• +, +/+, +/-
• -, -/-
• WT
• fl/+, fl/-, fl/fl

How genotypes drive strains:

Genotypes are used to determine strain matching — animals with the same gene combinations are grouped into the same strain.

During import:

Genotypes are parsed from the format:

• Gene(Allele), Gene(Allele) (e.g., Cxcl12(+/-), Nestin(+))
• Genes and alleles that don't already exist are automatically created

Strains in Moustra represent genetic lines in your colony.

How strains are created:

• Automatically created when matings are formed
• Based on parents' genotypes
• Example: Parents with Cxcl12 and Nestin genotypes → strain name becomes Cxcl12 / Nestin

Managing strains:

• Cannot delete strains — but you can deactivate them
• Merging: Combine multiple strains into one → moves all associated animals to the new merged strain → deactivates the old ones

Lab visibility:

Each strain belongs to your lab and is visible to all lab members.

From the strain detail page, you can see:

• Strain name
• Genotype information
• List of all associated animals

Use cases:

• Quickly review colony composition by genetic line
• See all animals of a specific strain across all cages

Filtering:

You can also filter the main animal list by strain to see all animals of a specific strain across all cages.

Genes and alleles are the building blocks of genotypes.

Definitions:

• Genes represent genetic loci (e.g., Cxcl12, Rosa26, Nestin)
• Alleles represent variants at those loci (e.g., +, -, fl/fl, WT)

Default and custom alleles:

Default alleles are provided, but you can create custom ones to match your lab's nomenclature.

Assigning genotypes:

When assigning genotypes to an animal:

1. Select a gene
2. Choose the appropriate allele

Automatic creation:

Genes and alleles are also automatically created during data import if they don't already exist.

In addition to genotype-based strains, Moustra supports background strains (genetic backgrounds like C57BL/6, BALB/c, 129S).

Management:

• Background strains are managed separately
• Specific to your lab
• Create custom background strain entries to match the backgrounds used in your facility

Why this matters:

This helps distinguish between animals that may share the same transgenic genotype but have different genetic backgrounds — important for experimental consistency.

Moustra tracks strains at both the cage and animal level.

Cage strain:

A general label for the cage, indicating what type of animals it typically houses.

Animal strain:

A specific genetic line based on its genotypes.

These can differ:

For example, a cage might be labeled Cxcl12 but contain animals with different allele combinations.

Important note:

Changing a cage's strain does not change the strains of animals in it.

Best practice:

• Use cage strain for general facility organization
• Use animal strain for precise genetic tracking

Each lab has two roles: Admin and User.

Admin capabilities:

• Manage lab members
• Invite new users
• Configure lab settings

User capabilities:

• Create and manage animals, cages, matings, and litters
• Cannot invite users or change lab settings

Adding new members:

1. Admin invites them via email
2. Invited person receives an invite link
3. They accept to activate their account

Invite status:

View invite status in the Users page:

• Active
• Pending
• Inactive

Lab admins can invite new members to join their lab.

How to invite:

1. Go to the Users page
2. Click Invite
3. Enter the email address of the person you want to invite

What happens:

• They receive an email with a link to create their account and join your lab
• Until they accept, the invite shows as Pending in the users list

Default role:

Once accepted, the new member gets User role by default and can start managing animals, cages, and other colony data.

In Moustra, animals and cages have an owner — the lab member responsible for them.

Ownership affects:

You receive notifications when someone else modifies your items.

Dashboard tracking:

The dashboard's Data by Account section shows how records are distributed across lab members.

Why ownership matters:

Helps large labs coordinate who is responsible for which animals and cages.

When setting up an account, you can select your position within the lab.

Available positions:

• Principal Investigator
• Professor
• Lab Manager
• Postdoctoral Researcher
• Graduate Student
• Research Technician
• Others

Display:

Your position is displayed on your profile and helps lab members understand each other's roles.

Printed labels:

The PI's name and contact information appear on printed cage labels.