Posted on September 26, 2018
By Autoscribe Informatics Inc.
Blog
Biorepositories are a key element in a growing number of organizations in biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical research. They are used to store different types of biospecimens which could be used in a number of applications from medical research to clinical trials. Given that essentially these samples are kept in freezers, or other storage locations, it would seem to be fairly straightforward to have a data management system that records where the samples are stored. However, things are significantly more complicated than that.
Posted on September 26, 2018
By Autoscribe Informatics Inc.
Blog
Most people have been unfortunate enough to experience at least one bout of food poisoning at some time their lives. For most it is an unpleasant, but not life-threatening occurrence, but in some cases, it can be extremely serious. Children under five and older people are most at risk because they may have weaker immune systems. Food poisoning results from food products containing bacteria such as E.coli, salmonella and campylobacter, with campylobacter being the most common culprit in the UK. One particularly dangerous, although much rarer, form of food poisoning is listeriosis, which is caused by
Listeria. Nearly everyone infected is hospitalized, with one in five people dying from the disease.
Posted on September 26, 2018
By John Jones
Newsletter
September 26, 2018 Laboratory Informatics Weekly Update Volume 16, Issue 39 In This Issue Upcoming Webinars 10/03/2018 - Webinar: Implementing Total Laboratory Automation: The Difficulties and Rewards10/09/2018 - JUSTIFYING THE PURCHASE OF AN ELN10/11/2018 - Webinar: Tools and Technologies for Elemental Analysis Journal Articles Support Your Data: A research data management guide for researchersIn this 2018 paper published in Research Ideas and Outcomes, Borghi et al. of the University of California Curation Center discuss their suite of research data management (RDM) tools, Support Your Data. The tools "include a rubric designed to enable researchers to self-assess their current data…
Posted on September 24, 2018
By Shawn Douglas
Journal articles
In this 2018 paper published in
Research Ideas and Outcomes, Borghi
et al. of the University of California Curation Center discuss their suite of research data management (RDM) tools, Support Your Data. The tools "include a rubric designed to enable researchers to self-assess their current data management practices and a series of short guides which provide actionable information about how to advance practices as necessary or desired." Based on three key RDM trends, the researchers felt a need to provide a complementary set of tools for researchers to better address those trends. The conclude by offering several use cases for the tools and planning "next steps" for improving the tools.
Posted on September 19, 2018
By CSols Inc.
Blog
“An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure” ~Benjamin Franklin
Although this quote is generally attributed to human health issues, it can also apply when one is considering the “health” of your laboratory computer systems and business processes. Just as taking care of yourself (i.e. eating healthy, exercising, and getting sufficient sleep) can prevent poor health outcomes, so too will establishing and maintaining the proper systems, processes, and quality culture help prevent poor audit outcomes.
Posted on September 19, 2018
By John Jones
Newsletter
September 19, 2018 Laboratory Informatics Weekly Update Volume 16, Issue 38 In This Issue Upcoming Webinars 09/26/2018 - A Structured Approach to Implementing a LIMS09/27/2018 - Webinar: Assessing Laboratory Performance for Next Generation Sequencing Based Detection of Germline Variants through Proficiency Testing Journal Articles Big data in the era of health information exchanges: Challenges and opportunities for public healthBaseman et al. "conducted an assessment of big data that is available to a [public health agency]—laboratory test results and clinician-generated notifiable condition report data—through its participation in a [health information exchange]" and published their results in Informatics. They identified five…
Posted on September 18, 2018
By Shawn Douglas
Journal articles
Baseman
et al. "conducted an assessment of big data that is available to a [public health agency]—laboratory test results and clinician-generated notifiable condition report data—through its participation in a [health information exchange]" and published their results in
Informatics. They identified five major challenges to "secondary use of HIE data for meeting public health communicable disease surveillance needs" and then find ways to turn those challenges into opportunities for the public health system, ultimately optimizing it through various forms of big data analysis and management.
Posted on September 12, 2018
By John Jones
Newsletter
September 12, 2018 Laboratory Informatics Weekly Update Volume 16, Issue 37 In This Issue Upcoming Webinars 09/18/2018 - Webinar: Validation of clinical LC-MS/MS methods: What you need to know09/18/2018 - A Structured Approach to Implementing a LIMS09/19/2018 - Overcoming SampleManager LIMS™ Upgrade Challenges Journal Articles How could the ethical management of health data in the medical field inform police use of DNA?This brief article published in Frontiers in Public Health takes a look at the collective management of genetic analysis techniques and "the ethico-legal frameworks" associated with forensic science and biomedicine. Krikorian and Vailly introduce the ethics and data…
Posted on September 11, 2018
By Shawn Douglas
Journal articles
This brief article published in
Frontiers in Public Health takes a look at the collective management of genetic analysis techniques and "the ethico-legal frameworks" associated with forensic science and biomedicine. Krikorian and Vailly introduce the ethics and data collection methods of genetic material by police, noting how with new techniques the ethics have changed. Then they discuss the legal and political ramifications that go along with the ethics. They conclude that questions persist "about the conditions for the existence or for the absence of political controversies that call for further sociological investigations about the framing of the issue and the social and political logic at play." Additionally, they note "the need for promoting dialogue among the various professionals using this technology in police work" as well as "with healthcare professionals."
Posted on September 6, 2018
By Astrix Technology Group
Blog
In many scientific laboratories, routine laboratory operations are still carried out using manual, paper-based systems. Paper-based systems can be everything from transcribing instrument test results to managing inventories and documenting and scheduling instrument calibrations on spreadsheets. Lab automation is a critical business re-engineering that is enabled and optimized with the implementation of a good LIMS solution. Without the core LIMS technology, true lab automation can not be achieved and reliance on paper will continue to hold back growth. This reliance on paper has many negative side effects:
- decreases the efficiency of the laboratory workplace
- stifles innovation by forcing scientists into manual activities when they could be doing actual science
- leaves the laboratory vulnerable to having valuable data misplaced, lost or destroyed
- creates data integrity issues due to manual data transcription
- exposes the company to regulatory risk due to data integrity and audit trail challenges
Informatics solutions, such a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), have been widely adopted across industries in order to meet these challenges. While LIMS provide a diverse array of functionality that serves to improve laboratory operations, the most important feature of a LIMS may be the ability to automate manual processes. In this blog, we will discuss some of the most important ways that LIMS can help automate your laboratory.
Posted on September 6, 2018
By CSols Inc.
Blog
It is well established within the laboratory informatics community that integrating your lab instruments to your LIMS is an industry best practice. The benefits one can realize through instrument integration include:
- Improving lab and technician efficiency
- Reducing sample turnaround time, increasing sample throughput
- Increasing researcher effectiveness (do more science)
- Increasing data quality through the elimination of transcription errors
- Increasing regulatory compliance and data integrity
- Improving user and stakeholder satisfaction
Many laboratory organizations, although cognizant of the benefits, end up putting off integrating their lab instruments to their LIMS. This is often relegated to Phase 2 of the LIMS project which often
never gets kicked off, which is bad news. If you are one of those labs that have not integrated your instruments to your LIMS, and realize those benefits.
Posted on September 6, 2018
By John Jones
Newsletter
September 6, 2018 Laboratory Informatics Weekly Update Volume 16, Issue 36 In This Issue Upcoming Webinars 09/11/2018 - JUSTIFYING THE PURCHASE OF AN ELN09/12/2018 - Webinar: Strategies for Reducing Analytical Interferences in the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory09/19/2018 - Overcoming SampleManager LIMS™ Upgrade Challenges Journal Articles Promoting data sharing among Indonesian scientists: A proposal of a generic university-level research data management plan (RDMP)In this 2018 paper by Irawan and Rachmi, a proposed research data management plan (RDMP) for the university ecosystem is proposed. After introducing the concept of an RDMP and the layout, the authors describe seven major components to their…
