Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women’s Hospital Laboratory Selects LabVantage’s SAPPHIRE™ to Phase out Its Legacy LIMS

Bridgewater, NJ. July 10, 2008. LabVantage Solutions, Inc. today announced that its SAPPHIRE™ BioBanking Solution has been licensed by the prestigious Channing Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. The laboratory is world-renowned for its infectious disease and epidemiologic research. As part of a multi-phase laboratory information management project, it will deploy SAPPHIRE in the Respiratory Epidemiology Genotyping Laboratory, replacing significant portions of the existing LIMS and other internally developed software packages.

Historically, the Channing laboratory primarily developed and maintained its own “in-house” solutions for its genotyping research and associated laboratory information management. When defining the scope for the ambitious biorepository and sample tracking system, it sought a proven, standards-driven, yet configurable solution. Through extensive due-diligence and review of the available top-tier commercial solutions, LabVantage’s SAPPHIRE was chosen for its comprehensive and configurable-off-the-shelf (COTS) functionality.

The BioBanking Module of SAPPHIRE afforded out-of-the-box industry best-practices for biorepository management. SAPPHIRE’S zero footprint, thin-client architecture was a decisive factor as it would provide its key staff, technicians, scientists, and principal investigators with the remote and secure access required when interacting with the biorepository. SAPPHIRE was also carefully selected for its ability to map existing laboratory processes to its built-in workflow management capabilities. This would enable The Channing Laboratory to automate its study management, sample collection, accessioning, and storage management practices and ensure compliance with its standard operating procedures. In addition, critically important was SAPPHIRE’S open architecture and ability to integrate with existing internally built systems, as well as, the flexibility to configure the solution to meet their global needs now and into the future. 

“We were primarily seeking a solution for our biorepository needs, but quickly found that many of our internally built laboratory systems and process would be tied to the biorepository processes,” comments Dr. Scott Weiss, Principal Investigator for the Channing Laboratory. “We needed a solution that would provide state-of-the-art biorepository management and that would also replace our legacy systems with standardized solutions. LabVantage’s SAPPHIRE provides both, enabling us to deploy now and extend the solution in the future.”

“The Channing Laboratory’s selection of LabVantage continues to substantiate SAPPHIRE as the product of choice for leading laboratories looking to replace their legacy LIMS and standardize on a best-in-class sample and biorepository management solution,” stressed Ron Kasner, Vice President of Corporate Development for LabVantage. “It further demonstrates our leadership in customer service and commitment to excellence.”

About The Channing Laboratory. The Channing Laboratory is a multidisciplinary research division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, focused on the investigation of bacteriology, chronic disease epidemiology and virology.

About LabVantage. LabVantage Solutions, Inc., an innovative global provider of enterprise solutions tailored for leading laboratories, serves discovery, development, formulation, process research, raw material testing, and quality management laboratories across multiple industries. LabVantage’s SAPPHIRE, a zero-footprint laboratory information management suite, is tailored to manage an organization’s critical laboratory information across its worldwide operations to optimize productivity and more effectively share knowledge. LabVantage is headquartered in Bridgewater, NJ, U.S.A. Further information about LabVantage and SAPPHIRE is available at www.labvantage.com.

LabVantage, SAPPHIRE and their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of LabVantage Solutions, Inc. in the U.S and other countries around the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.