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Radboud University Medical Center (Radboudumc) is a leading academic center for medical science, education and healthcare, connecting research, education and patient care. Its mission is to have a significant impact on healthcare by shaping the healthcare of the future in a person-centered and innovative manner. Of Radboudumc's nearly 10,000 employees and 3,500 students, roughly 20% work in one of the research departments, dedicated to everything from clinical research to lab-based research. Radboudumc currently has approximately 800 Labguru users.
We interviewed Remco Makkinje, BaS, a Coordinating Technician in the Human Genetics department who manages the LIMS and related tools and serves as the Labguru workspace owner.
Challenges
Remco explains why Radboudumc was interested in moving on from paper lab notebook: "Genetics is a fast-moving field, with new bio-medical techniques such as next-generation genome sequencing that create vast amounts of data and require big data analysis capabilities. But somehow, in this fast-changing pace, we stuck to our old ways when it came logging our lab work. Printing out spreadsheets, gel pictures, etc. and pasting them in our paper lab notebooks. Finding out how older experiments were run or what primers were used in a specific experiment was a real hassle. We were interested in moving to an ELN and informatics system that will allow us to adapt our research to an era where research is efficient and cost-effective."
But the solution to the problem would have to meet two seemingly contradictory requirements, Remco elaborated: "With over 20 different PI groups and around 125 active users, it was a real challenge to find a structured but flexible ELN. Every group has its own lab notebook working methods, so we needed some flexibility. But we also wanted a structured system with predefined rules to help us keep the data structured and organized. Furthermore, finding the right balance between security and collaboration was a challenge. We didn’t want to give everyone access to all the lab data. But we also wanted to encourage cooperation, so that data needed to be accessible for people from multiple PI groups. Fortunately, Labguru allows us to create groups and define privilege-based access to projects."
Efficiency
Labguru's ELN was a great fit from the start. "We like how the Labguru ELN is set up," reports Remco. "The system is very flexible and self-explanatory, which is a huge advantage for us. It allows each PI group to work on its own structure while cooperating with other PI groups. The consumables inventory and shopping list are very helpful, and it's easy to export a list of products and import them into Labguru using the import functionality. It’s easy to add custom fields, so we tailor everything to our needs."
Privacy
Labguru is uniquely suited for sensitive data collection and processing. When asked about patient data, Remco says: "All our patients' data gets pseudonymized. We set up a private encrypted cloud environment with Labguru where all of the hospital's Labguru data is stored. This ensures that our patients' data is stored in the safest way."
Labguru really stimulated the integration of our division and improved the collaboration and communication between our various groups.
Streamlining research
Labguru has done wonders for Radboudumc's day-to-day activities. "I like the way that you just start with one blank page and every user has his or her own way of entering their workflow into Labguru. It makes it very flexible and applicable to every type of experiment or study," says Remco. "I also like the user-friendliness and how intuitive the ELN is. New members only need a short introduction and then just learn by doing.
Finally, the shopping list and ordering system in Labguru constitute an easy way to keep track of all the consumables and other goods. For instance, if you see something is running low, it’s easy to find the product and order it. This is how everything should be, it’s as easy as buying something on Amazon. These kinds of things are key to keep the lab running successfully."
ROI from Labguru
"Everything is more structured with Labguru," concludes Remco. "Things can be re-structured if necessary and information can now be retrieved more easily with Labguru’s great search functions. Moreover, Labguru really stimulated the integration of our division and improved collaboration and communication between our various groups. For example, with Labguru, ordering, managing equipment, antibodies, etc., is much easier and cost effective as it is done on a division-wide level rather than separately for each group. Labguru allows us to derive better insights."