Implementation of a Laboratory Information Management System for a Sequencing Laboratory

MAURICIO BRUNNER; JORGE GARBINO; MARCELO RISK; FRANCISCO J. OLIVER; DANIEL LUNA

Córdoba

Congreso; XXI Congreso Argentino de Bioingeniería; 2017

Sociedad Argentina de Bioingeniería

The rapid advances in human genetics from the Human Genome Project have resulted in the expansion of the number and range of genetic diagnoses, which is an evolution of the practice of medicine. The DNA Sequencing Laboratory of the Italian Hospital of Buenos Aires (LS-HIBA) is a highly complex laboratory in continuous growth that provides services to other areas of the institution such as the Central Laboratory, Pathological Anatomy and Histocompatibility. Therefore it is extremely important to have a computer system that allows the acquisition and management of all the information generated in the laboratory, which offers sample monitoring throughout the workflows, supports the sample report and allows generation of productivity reports. A Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) is a comprehensive software tool that is used to centralize laboratory operational workflows. These are centered on the samples instead of focusing on the patient as they do on a Laboratory Information System (LIS). A LIMS assists analysts and technicians in all tasks associated with the handling of samples and information related to them. Bika Health LIMS is an open source web based LIMS for health care laboratories. In this work we propose to use this system for the sequencing laboratory of the Italian Hospital of Buenos Aires, presenting an alternative to the expensive software licensed with a functional, open source and low-cost LIMS for a highly complex laboratory. To this end, we work on the integration of laboratory practices to obtain a correct workflow for the analysis of the samples, creating an interface between the LIMS and other systems of the institution, and exporting configurations to the equipment and import the results of the same, either by modifying the software source code or by configuring it from its various options.