Case Study GBF: Manages Clinical Samples Using CloudLIMS

Introduction

The Global Biomedical Foundation (GBF) specializes in the 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 with 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 primarily in infectious diseases. They serve the market for biological materials for pharmacogenomics, from non-infectious diseases, genetic disorders to immune-allergies.

Business Challenges

According to Maykel Hernandez, COO for GBF, “The first objective was to find a system that would drive compliance with CDC standards so that they could facilitate accreditation and the associated audit requirements. The second was to replace all the manual reports with online reports. Our turn-around time was too long and we were doing a lot of typing into spreadsheets for reporting.”

CloudLIMS Solution

GBF started looking for a sample management solution that was intuitive, user friendly and configurable. The aim was to use a best-in-class solution and to establish laboratory-wide consistency. GBF personnel learned about CloudLIMS’s SaaS model while attending the largest biobanking congress, ISBER. After taking an online demo, they determined that the product was in line with their laboratory needs and the overall business plan. Most importantly, it was a system that they did not have to set up, deploy or manage themselves, especially when resources were being consumed managing the business needs.

Quick Overview

Establishment

The Global Biomedical Foundation (GBF) contributes to research by providing access to high quality and well-annotated samples. GBF specializes primarily in the collection, storage, and distribution of clinically significant bio-specimens of rare infectious diseases, non-infectious diseases, genetic disorders, and immune-allergies to serve the pharmacogenomics market.

Headquarters

Miami, Florida, North America

Business Challenges

A data management system was required to drive compliance with CDC standards to facilitate accreditation and the associated audit requirements. Additionally, maintaining reports using spreadsheets was effort-full, error-prone and time-intensive.

Solution

CloudLIMS

Benefits

The major benefit was to meet compliance with CDC standards, face audits and meet accreditation requirements. A need was felt for efficient data management, secured sharing and access to data, and maintaining traceability to allow for easy and quick tracking of samples.

Since its implementation, CloudLIMS (SaaS model) has operated efficiently and has proven to be a significant benefit to GBF. Data is entered on a timely basis and shared department-wise. CloudLIMS has improved the security of data entry and has greatly assisted in sample identification and tracking. The new system is a significant factor in receiving CDC certification. The key was the inherent traceability and built-in audit trail.

Testimonial

CloudLIMS is designed keeping in mind a biobanking environment. CloudLIMS’s easy-to-use configuration modules helped us save costly customization and quickly come up to speed. I particularly liked the ability to set user defined fields, assigning user rights and creating samples and aliquots.
– Global Biomedical Foundation Inc.