LIMS Case Studies

Nova Medical School (NMS) is a part of the Medical Sciences Faculty at NOVA University of Lisbon. NMS is associated with several local hospitals in the Lisbon area, facilitating a variety of teaching environments and more extended knowledge of hospital reality and primary health care. They have an in-house biobanking facility that supplies samples to their own research ecosystem such as NMS Research.

BIRKA BioStorage is a cGMP compliant repository located in Lund, Sweden, and is certified by the Swedish National Board of Health & Welfare for GMP as well as GDP. They provide a wide range of storage and transport services to researchers, drug developers, and manufacturers worldwide. They store a variety of samples, including clinical trial samples, gene banks, reference and retention samples, viral products, pharmaceutical samples received from scientists, institutions, hospitals, and companies. The Swedish Medical Product Agency (Läkemedelsverket) regularly inspects their premises.

Introduction: The Leading Minds in the World

The University of Sheffield is a globally reputed university renowned for its world-leading research. It not only stands out to be in the top 10 per cent of all UK universities—as assessed by the 2014 Research Excellence Framework system—but is also a world top-100 university, that strives to solve society’s greatest challenges through its excellence, impact, unique teaching and distinctiveness for its research-led learning.

The Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Center (RGCI & RC) is a world-class hospital for cancer treatment. RGCI & RC is renowned globally for its comprehensive cancer care set-up. It has integrated cancer research programs and laboratories which drive improvements in cancer treatment and clinical care. With its world class biorepository, it meets the needs of the scientific community focused on cancer and allied research. The biorepository stored biospecimens, including plasma, buffy coat and tissue samples, taken with consent from patients diagnosed with cancer. The biorepository collects a wide variety of tumor tissue as well as adjacent normal tissue from surgical resections done at RGCI & RC. Tissue associated buffy coat and plasma are also collected. The RGCI & RC biorepository aims to provide translational cancer researchers with high quality biospecimens and related clinical data, in order to facilitate discoveries that will lead to improvements in cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Lexachrom Analytical Laboratory LLC is located in Freeport, New York, United States, and provides 3rd-party cannabis testing services. They test a variety of samples, such as capsules, tablets, lozenges, oral sprays, oils, powders or tinctures, soft-gel chews, topical lotions, suppositories, vaporization cartridges, metered ground flower, and multi-dose inhalers. The company tests medical marijuana for the Medical Marijuana Program in New York State.

Founded in 2012, Fidelis Research, a privately-owned life science company provides high-quality human tissues and bio-fluids specimens along with de-identified patient related information to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and pre-clinical contract research companies to facilitate their research. Fidelis has collection sites in southeast Europe – Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, and Turkey. Through these sites, the company identifies subjects, obtains consents, and then collects various types of samples. Additionally, the company provides services including tissue processing and analysis, cell isolation, lab services and scientific consulting.

Colibri Scientific, a UK based company, provides flexible clinical sample services to clinical investigators, biotechnology and pharmaceutical organizations running early phase clinical studies. Colibri Scientific understands the importance of quality samples in research, therefore, efficiently manages each and every aspect of sample operations during the entire sample life cycle. They provide a wide range of services such as sample tracking, clinical kit production, sample logistics, site training, project management, laboratory vendor management, in addition to sample storage via their specialist partner.

Global Biomedical Foundation Inc. (GBF), world’s premier biostorage center, specializes in collection, storage and distribution of rare and highly characterized biological samples such as disease state plasma to meet clinical research management requirements. GBF takes pride in contributing to research by providing access to high quality and well-annotated biospecimen materials within full regulatory compliance. GBF works with a network of laboratories, clinics and medical doctors, located in Latin America which identify and collect clinically significant blood products. GBF specializes mainly in infectious diseases, they likewise serve the market for biological materials for pharmacogenomics, from non-infectious diseases, genetic disorders and immune-allergies.

Plusvital is a global leader in equine science. Established in 1975, this Irish-owned company provides innovative, science-driven genetic testing solutions alongside a range of equine nutraceutical supplements developed to empower equine performance. In 2020, in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Plusvital developed a range of PCR-based tests for SARS-CoV-2-RNA.

BevTrac serves the wine industry by providing a laboratory that conducts state-of-the-art analytical and microbiological testing. Their mission is to deliver practical, timely, innovative, and comprehensive quality services to the wine industry, thereby allowing their customers to produce the best quality product. The company has successfully provided quality assessments to over fifty wineries on the West Coast of the United States. BevTrac is the first and only company in the US wine industry to offer comprehensive sanitation services. They have the ability to cover all aspects of winery sanitation, right from rapid assessments of the sanitary condition of facilities to complete development and implementation of sanitation programs (a turn-key sanitation program).