Biobanking refers to collecting, processing, storing, and distributing biological samples, such as tissues, blood, DNA, and other biomolecules, for research and diagnostic purposes. These samples are gathered from patients, donors, or research participants and stored in a controlled environment to ensure their long-term preservation and maintain sample integrity.

Pooled testing, a technique that tests composite samples from groups rather than individual samples, has gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic but has existed for decades with wide-ranging applications.

Great employees are essential to lab success, and keeping them engaged and productive is crucial. Recognizing and rewarding lab employees can improve morale, engagement, and productivity while reducing turnover. Various methods of recognition and reward include incentive programs, formal recognition, financial rewards, and leadership development opportunities. Providing access to state-of-the-art technology, such as a robust laboratory information management system (LIMS), can also contribute to employee satisfaction and professional growth.

Success as a laboratory manager requires effective capacity management, delegation, and a focus on organizational improvement. By implementing efficient systems and navigating obstacles, lab managers can enhance their effectiveness and create a positive impact on their team and operations.

Audit trails in lab sample management are crucial for ensuring sample integrity, patient safety, and regulatory compliance.

Installing a lab information management system can reduce quantitative costs and provide gains in efficiency and opportunity.

Integrating a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) with existing lab equipment and software is crucial for creating an efficient workflow. This complex process involves transferring data, updating procedures, and ensuring seamless connectivity between systems.

Lean Healthcare, adapted from Lean Manufacturing principles, offers a transformative approach to improving hospital efficiency and patient care. Mark Graban, an expert in the field, explains that Lean methodology engages all staff in problem-solving, focusing on patient needs, safety, and quality.

Standard operating procedures (SOPs) and Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) create successful biorepositories by ensuring consistent approaches to specimen management, handling, and processing.

Inventory control is an essential component of proper lab management. Without inventory control, compliance, results, accuracy and patient safety are compromised.

Here are 4 tips for excellent lab management to ensure that your laboratory management systems, employees, and processes are performing properly.

The laboratory business is, in many ways, a zero-sum competitive game. There are only so many samples provided by so many hospitals, practices and clinics that will be sent out for analysis.

Labs are also businesses, either independently managed or operating as profit centers for larger medical enterprises. With competition keen, it’s crucial that labs identify, implement, and keep any competitive advantages they have in the marketplace.

When laboratories focus on improving workflow optimization, the benefits become evident and emerge quickly.

The benefits are considerable and encompass the entire scope of the patient experience and lab operations. By optimizing workflows within a lab, healthcare quality improves, and lab quality control is optimized.

For laboratory sample management, the ramifications of noncompliance with industry norms are significant, risking patient health and organizational credibility.

The need for proper tracking of sample information – location, status, properties, expiration, and activities – is not new. Today, the number of samples in any laboratory is in the hundreds or thousands. These samples are stored in different containers and various locations. Proper and accurate tracking at all stages is imperative for testing accuracy, study validity, and patient safety.

The life sciences are astonishingly data-intensive today, and in many cases, big projects require collaboration between departments or institutions. Even without collaboration, powerful IT infrastructure is necessary to run the software tools that help researchers understand their data. Read more to understand why on-premises laboratory management software may be best for your institution.

Freezerworks Founder and System Architect honored for service to International Biobanking

We at Freezerworks wish to honor our clients working to fight cancer in the research labs and biorepositories worldwide.

This update has a number of great new features. We’ll feature the top four here. For a complete listing of features and corrections included in this update, see our release notes.