Informatics In-Depth Focus 2013

• Using LIMS for biobanking and implementing LIMS for research
  (Author: Eva Bürén, Head of IT, Karolinska Institutet Biobank)
  Karolinska Institutet Biobank is a core facility at KI established in 2004 to support medical research in short and long-term storage of valuable human biology samples. Today, the KI Biobank holds four million samples in freezers from approximately 140 different studies. The studies vary from disease-specific case control studies with the aim to identify biomarkers for complex diseases to large prospective cohorts with the aim to investigate genetic and lifestyle factors and their interaction on health and disease. The service provided at the Biobank is focused on study planning, pre-analytical processes, sample storage and retrieval of specimens. The facility has 20 robots for sorting, aliquoting, DNA extractions and withdrawal of samples. On a daily basis, approximately 500 blood samples from different research studies are registered and processed into multiple aliquots and stored in 2D barcoded micro tubes in 96 SBS rack format…
• Biologics development and ELN: A good match?
  (Author: Michael H. Elliott, CEO, Atrium Research)
  Sales of monoclonal antibody (mAbs) and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are projected to rise to USD 58 billion by 2016, an increase of USD 25 billion from 20101. This contrasts with other sectors of the pharmaceutical market that are declining. IMS Health, in their latest survey, suggests that the overall US drug market shrunk in 2012 for the first time ever2. Combined with longer useful patent life and the complexity and cost of creating biosimilars, it is no wonder pharmaceutical companies are diverting a larger portion of their R&D expenditures to biologics…
• Informatics Roundtable
  (Participants: Glyn Williams, Vice President Product Delivery, IDBS / Peter Bailey, CEO, LABVANTAGE / Nick Townsend, Director Life Sciences, LabWare)