June 29, 2020 - 3 Considerations for Building a Diagnostic Testing Lab
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has developed a renewed interest in, and placed an emphasis on, diagnostics. As a result, new companies and laboratories are being established across the U.S. to support the need for diagnostic testing. In some cases, companies are building brand new facilities from the ground up, while others are setting up diagnostic workflows in biotechnology incubators or other pre-existing laboratory infrastructures.
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June 29, 2020 - Remote Capabilities in the World of COVID-19: Laboratory Informatics Roadmap for Encoded Therapeutics
Encoded Therapeutics Inc. (Encoded), a biotechnology company advancing precision medicines for a broad range of genetic disorders. With the increasing need to establish a harmonized laboratory data and process workflow to support the rapid growth of the company, Encoded Therapeutics chose Astrix Technology Group to develop their Informatics Roadmap and Sample Management strategy. However, the COVID-19 pandemic would require a novel new approach to doing business in an unprecedented remote work environment.
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June 23, 2020 - Astrix On-Demand Webinar – Planning and Executing a LabVantage LIMS Validation
Validating a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) with the many configuration and integration options that are available for LabVantage requires significant project planning and team coordination to execute successfully. [Read More]
June 16, 2020 - How to Ensure Value from your Lab Informatics Implementation
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June 16, 2020 - SCC adds new product to our Research Information System Suite product catalogue
After 40 years our primary focus remains to provide laboratories with world-wide powerful and flexible software tools enabling them to compete in a highly competitive clinical diagnostics marketplace. Applying technology to create the most advanced—and most cost-effective—healthcare IT solutions continues to be our strategy as we introduce SoftBiobank™ to our Research Information Systems Suite.
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June 16, 2020 - How Labs and Businesses Can Work Together to Reopen Safely
As the nations of the world begin transitioning from flattening the curve to cautiously beginning to resume doing business, the focus is turning to how best to prevent a “second wave” - and in fact to operate over the long term in the face of potential similar pandemics. Experts tell us this may only be the beginning, and that the likelihood is that new zoonotic viruses will arise with increasing frequency as we continue to disrupt natural habitats to accommodate the ever-increasing human population.
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June 15, 2020 - PCR and Diagnostics: COVID-19 Pandemic Reveals Serious Issues
There has been recent discussion of the lack of accuracy of COVID-19 tests - both virus (rRT-PCR), which has been widely regarded as “the gold standard”, and antibody assays. The issue with PCR is not with the methods themselves, but the degree of human error that creeps in due to the complexity of the workflow - including pre-analytical sample handling, which can account for up to 68% of errors according to a recent paper, with overall inaccuracies of up to 41%.
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June 9, 2020 - Selecting a Managed Services Partner for Laboratory Informatics
Scientific organizations face ever increasing pressure from business stakeholders to reduce costs while improving operational efficiency, scalability, and agility. Laboratory research is more complicated and dependent on informatics than ever. IT organizations are seeking a solution through the development and deployment of an integrated laboratory informatics strategy and infrastructure.[Read More]
June 9, 2020 - National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Updates – June 2020
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is our nation’s medical research agency and strives to make scientific discoveries that improve health and save lives. Founded in 1870, the NIH conducts its own scientific research through its Intramural Research Program (IRP), which supports approximately 1,200 principal investigators and more than 4,000 postdoctoral fellows conducting basic, translational and clinical research. In this blog, we will highlight recent ground-breaking NIH research.[Read More]
June 2, 2020 - 10 Steps to Laboratory Automation using QLIMS
Modern analytical and research laboratories have experienced a tremendous growth in data volumes in recent years. In order to translate all this data into knowledge, labs are increasingly looking to automate and integrate their processes to not only provide digital continuity throughout the sample life cycle but also improve data integrity.[Read More]
June 2, 2020 - 5 Important Elements of Lab Informatics Implementation Success
Now that you’ve made the big decision and invested in a new or upgraded laboratory informatics system (whether it be LIMS, LES, CDS, or ELN), how do you ensure that your implementation will be a success? At CSols, ensuring implementation success is one of the things we specialize in, and we’ve acquired the expertise to determine what can make or break a project. If your implementation includes the following five elements, you’ll be well on your way to success.[Read More]
June 2, 2020 - Benchling Raises $50M to Accelerate Life Science R&D Globally
Benchling is announcing a $50M Series D investment, led by Alkeon Capital with participation from new investors Spark Capital, Lux Capital, and ICONIQ Partners, as well as existing investors Thrive Capital, Menlo Ventures, and Benchmark. We are thrilled to have these long-term partners on our journey. The ongoing pandemic has put biotechnology under the global spotlight. As scientists race to develop treatments and vaccines for COVID-19 on an unprecedented timescale, we’re seeing how far life science has come.[Read More]
June 2, 2020 - Introducing SoftLIMS™ | SCC’s Cloud-based Configurable Laboratory Information Management System
As part of SCC’s Research Information Systems Suite, SoftLIMS is a cloud-based, multi-tenant laboratory information management system that provides the following features:
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May 29, 2020 - COVID-19 Testing: How are we doing to meet the challenge?
How are we doing in meeting the challenge? We’re now almost five months in since the notorious SARS-CoV-2 first reared its ugly head in December in Wuhan, with the first diagnosed case in the US following soon after in January. In the US, the pandemic caught laboratories seriously unprepared to meet the demands for testing, despite having a few months to watch its spread elsewhere before numbers became pressing here.
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May 28, 2020 - A Day (or Three) In the Life of a COVID-19 Testing Event – Day Four: The Conclusion
Originally intended as a 3-part blog (test results would be returned in 2–3 days they said), the documenting of my experience of getting tested for COVID-19 would more accurately be re-titled “A Day (or Ten)…”. The good news is I finally got the phone call with my result this morning. The better news is that it was negative.
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May 27, 2020 - Benchtalk Volume 4: Life Science in the Time of COVID-19
This season, Benchtalk focuses on the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the field of life sciences, and the incredible response of the life science community to combat the virus. In this volume, we showcase life science R&D’s tireless work to bring tests, treatments, and vaccines to the public, as well as stories of how companies and labs are adjusting to these unprecedented circumstances.May 27, 2020 - Experience More From Your LIMS Vendor – Part 3: Ongoing Support
The partnership between you and your LIMS vendor is just as, if not more so, critical after go-live as it is during the selection and implementation phases. Whether your laboratory is expanding and adding new lines of business or performing locations, or you’re remaining relatively constant, your LIMS partner should be an ally in helping you navigate changes quickly and efficiently, and a resource when questions arise during everyday use of the system.May 27, 2020 - Open Transplant powered by SoftHLA®
SCC Soft Computer’s SoftHLA is an immunogenetics information management system for the diagnostic genetics laboratory – providing clinical and laboratory information management functionality related to transplantation workups for solid organ and stem cell/bone transplantation, along with transfusion support and other clinical purposes.
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May 22, 2020 - A Day (or Three) In the Life of a COVID-19 Testing Event – Day Three
Well, this was to be the results blog. However, day three turned into day four, then day five…the test was Sunday morning, it’s now Friday and still nothing. They told me 2–3 days during my screening… Fortunately, I am still breathing ok, haven’t developed any alarming symptoms and continue to live normally in expectation of a negative result.
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May 21, 2020 - A Day (or Three) In the Life of a COVID-19 Testing Event – Day Two
OK, so I did it, I got tested. What now? That’s exactly what I wondered, so I put those awesome journalistic skills to work (from home of course) and set out to find out where my sample went and what was being done with it.
