December 2, 2021
About LabKey
The Ohio State University is using Sample Manager to manage veterinary samples for its influenza monitoring program.
Presented at the LabKey User Conference, Andrew Bowman, Associate Professor at The Ohio State University shared how his lab is using Sample Manager for veterinary sample management to support a surveillance program monitoring influenza viruses circulating in swine and waterfowl. His presentation provided an overview of the work being done in the lab, their need for a sample management system, benefits they have seen since adopting Sample Manager, and future plans.
The lab generates more than 10,000 veterinary samples per year and conducts approximately 15,000 tests on these samples annually. The samples being handled by the lab include swabs, environmental samples, serum and PBMC. Projects assigned to the lab have varying data reporting requirements and sample information being captured. As expected, one of the significant challenges is managing the volume of data and samples.
Before Sample Manager, the lab used an outdated veterinary sample management system based on Filmaker databases. The system was difficult to use and lacked the flexibility needed to adapt to new projects and sample processing requirements. Being an academic lab, there is a continuous turnover of students using the system, creating the need for an easy-to-use application that requires minimal training and IT support.
Sample Manager was chosen as the veterinary sample management system for the following reasons:
- Sample-focused data management and the flexibility to meet reporting requirements
- Sample-centered, flexibility to align with existing workflow
- Easily customizable to meet the needs of new projects and assays
- Intuitive and user-friendly, requiring minimal training and support
Some of the key features being used include:
- The ability to add multiple sources per sample and general flexibility of the system
- The ease by which new assays can be added and data can be managed/tracked
- Customer support- LabKey is incredibly responsive and solution-oriented in its approach!