Autoscribe Informatics is pleased to announce that the prestigious Sydney, Australia, based Garvan-Weizmann Centre for Cellular Genomics (GWCCG) is using Matrix Gemini Biobank Manager in its day-to-day operations. The team uses the solution in its cellular genomics research to help understand how diseases originate or act at a cellular level. The GWCCG works with researchers and industry partners, providing cutting edge services for both fundamental research and novel translational cellular genomics development.

The Matrix Gemini Biobank Manager stores details of the human tissue and blood samples from patients who are either due for surgery or treatment. The samples, which are generally cancer related, are processed into plasma, buffy coat, PBMC (peripheral blood mononuclear cells), tissue slow frozen in DMSO, cryopreserved or embedded tissue and histology slides. In addition to this clinical biobank, the team also manage several stem cell lines within the Biobank for use on current and future projects. There are approximately 3,500 samples currently in the biobank, with the number growing all the time.

Matrix Biobank Manager was configured to ensure that data from the Clinical Biobanking group was not visible to those from the Stem Cell group and vice versa. This was a mandatory requirement for the system implementation, to ensure that data integrity and ethical standards are appropriately enforced for GWCCG. A complex calculation was also configured in Matrix to show ‘progression free days’ for cancer patients, a requirement that was straightforward to implement due to the inherent flexibility of Matrix Biobank Manager.

“After trialling a few systems, including those that I’ve used or looked at in the past, Matrix was the only one that met all of our requirements. And it was so user-friendly!” said the Biobank Data Manager at GWCCG.

A GWCCG case study is available for download.

View GWCCG case study

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