Custom Clinical Laboratory Workflow System from Amersham Biosciences Designed for Windber’s Breast Cancer Project
November 03, 2003 – Amersham Biosciences, the life sciences business of Amersham (LSE:, NYSE:, OSE: AHM), has signed an agreement with the Windber Research Institute, a state-of-the-art biomedical research facility, to develop a customized Scierra™ Solutions Laboratory Workflow System to manage the data generated in its Clinical Breast Cancer Project.
Windber was already using Scierra LWS solutions for gene expression, sequencing, genotyping and proteomics, but needed to expand the system with the development of a custom clinical laboratory workflow system (C-LWS) that was able to collect information on patient histories, samples, and pathologies. In addition, there was a requirement for that information to be integrated with its genomics and proteomics data in a single database. The flexibility of the Scierra LWS platform meant that the new workflow could be easily integrated into Windber’s current systems.
Windber is conducting high throughput research and developing better ways to detect, treat and manage breast and other cancers. According to F. Nicholas Jacobs, FACHE, President/CEO, Windber Research Institute, the extensive use of bioinformatics tools and integration of data from multiple sources will be the key to accelerating discovery of novel biomarkers and finding cures. “The new HIPAA-compliant customized data management system will seamlessly interface with the four Scierra Laboratory Workflow Systems we are currently using to track, store and analyze data,” says Richard Somiari, PhD, Chief Operating/Scientific Officer at the Windber Research Institute. “This first of a kind advanced workflow system links clinical data and pathology information collected on patient samples with data from our research laboratories resulting in a comprehensive data warehouse that is unrivalled in breast cancer research.”
“Windber has developed a world-class informatics system for compiling and analyzing laboratory and clinical data based on four Amersham Biosciences Scierra Laboratory Workflow Systems,” comments Jerry Walker, Vice President of Informatics at Amersham Biosciences. “The customized Clinical LWS provides the critical software link between patient sample information, clinical data, and the results of advanced research studies and analytical analysis. Clinical and laboratory data will now be combined into a single, easily accessible database.”
Amersham Biosciences, in collaboration with scientists at Windber designed the customized Clinical LWS to collect, annotate, track, and provide ready access to information collected by doctors, nurses, and pathologists on patient samples that will be sent to the research laboratory for further study. This data can then be viewed and analyzed in conjunction with the results of genotype, gene expression, proteomic, and DNA sequencing data compiled by the Scierra systems currently in use at the Windber Research Institute.
Scierra LWS is a unified platform to support and manage data across multiple instruments, users, and applications. It is a family of flexible and efficient workflow-based software products and services for managing DNA and protein information gathered from discovery processes. The Scierra LWS can comprehensively track and manage samples from the point of sample acquisition through data analysis, and can be customized to meet the specific needs of each client’s laboratory data collection and analysis environment.
About The Windber Research Institute
The Windber Research Institute (WRI), is a world class, state of the art biomedical research facility that has taken on the challenge of finding cures for genetic and metabolic diseases. WRI collects, classifies and stores a vast array of well-characterized biological samples, then processes and analyzes them at the cellular and molecular level to identify DNA, RNA and proteins (the functional unit of genes) that are dysfunctional or inappropriately expressed. Advanced computational, biological and bioimaging techniques are also utilized to determine how genes and proteins affect the way a disease develops and/or progresses. The information that is gained is then utilized in disease management and also for development of new drugs and vaccines.
Amersham Biosciences, the life sciences business of Amersham (LSE: NYSE: OSE: AHM), is a world leader in developing and providing integrated systems and solutions for disease research, drug development and manufacture. Our systems are used to uncover the function of genes and proteins, for the discovery and development of drugs and for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals. The customers for Amersham Biosciences’ products and technology are pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and research and academic institutions, principally in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Amersham Biosciences—enabling molecular medicine
Press Information:
Helen Petts, PR Manager
helen.petts@amersham.com
