Hear it from the labs.

Candel Therapeutics is developing oncolytic viral immunotherapies that help the immune system fight cancer. They came to LabKey seeking a system for managing biomarker samples from clinical trials, each with 100-3,000 aliquots. Candel was outgrowing their spreadsheet-based approach to sample tracking which was becoming increasingly inefficient and prone to errors. They also had a need for an audit trail to ensure consistency between studies.

Sample Manager provided:

• Built-in aliquot feature
• Complete tracking of sample relationships, sources and types
• Easy bulk upload of samples and related data
• Quick setup and implementation

The department of veterinary medicine at The Ohio State University manages a large repository of samples dating back to 1986 with 10,000 or more samples being added annually. They had outgrown their existing system based on FileMaker databases and required a system that was easy to use and did not require extensive IT support.

Sample Manager provided:

• User-friendly application- an essential requirement for new lab staff
• Sample centered and customizable to align with existing lab workflows
• Solution-oriented customer support

NIAID came to LabKey needing to track longitudinal sample collection for the Translational Autoinflammatory Disease Studies (TADS) Unit which collaborates across NIH institutes to study autoinflammatory disease pathways. They were looking for efficient ways to track samples, integrate them with related data, and enforce standardized naming conventions for samples and their derivatives.

Sample Manager provided:

• Integration of Sample Manager with LabKey Server study management features
• Workflow and freezer management
• Definition and enforcement of naming conventions

The Centre for Addiction and Mental health (CAMH) is Canada’s largest mental health research facility. Researchers at CAMH use the Biobank facility where they have adopted Sample Manager to aid their team in tracking, storing, and processing various sample types nationally across their institution. CAMH combines its usage of Sample Manager with LabKey Server to distribute both raw and processed data files and queries to individual project teams. In the coming months, they will expand the use of Sample Manager to their hospital-wide Brain Health Databank initiative, which strives to become one of the largest digital repositories of mental health data.

Sample Manager provided CAMH with:

• Freezer management
• Workflow Management
• Great flexibility in field names/requirements
• Bulk editing capabilities
• Interactive sample lineage graphs
• Full audit trail/log of samples