Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Baltimore, Maryland

The Challenge: Inventorying and Marking Thousands of Samples Accurately
Prostate cancer kills nearly 30,000 men every year in the United States and affects the lives and families of millions more as they live in the aftermath of treatment. Research scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine are conducting a comprehensive study of prostate cancer at the esteemed university with the objective of putting an end to this cancer.

Identity is everything for this one-of-a-kind study, now in its eighth year. The team is collecting all clinical and molecular data to provide a complete view of the entire story of a group of people affected by the disease. So, with thousands and thousands of research biomaterial samples of all different types and sizes, the scientists must have complete confidence in the lab management system to accurately retain the identity and associated data of samples for easy retrieval and processing.

Loftware's Solution: Accuracy and Flexibility to Make Research Better
To support the university's prostate cancer research, the scientists have built a user-friendly lab management system. The system features Loftware software as one of its core technologies to ensure precise tracking of research samples. Loftware Print Server software and Web Listener technology provide accurate and flexible barcode label printing directly and seamlessly connected to the lab's Web-hosted database. This easy linkage to the database was a critical requirement for the team.

Also, the ability to print a variety of label types and sizes for difficult environments was important and unique to Loftware software. Many of the team's sample containers and slides are small, with a label size is 1” x 0.5”. And, they are stored in conditions varying from room temperature, to –80 Celsius, and to liquid nitrogen freezers, with some slide samples exposed to solvents.

While Loftware's software solution fit the researchers' needs well, they also learned during the continued improvements in his lab environment that Loftware provides excellent customer support. The researchers experienced a technical team that was patient and never gave up, even when the problems crossed over into the technology never-never land between a number of different partners' solutions.

The Benefits: Improving the Research Process One Sample at a Time
The team of research scientists continues their important research to get closer to answers about prostate cancer. The efficiency and reliability of the lab management system are helping the team carry on their research with confidence by:

reducing mistaken identity of samples
reducing the loss of samples
reducing the time to locate samples for experiments
improving the chain of possession through direct database connectivity
improving collaboration with other researchers

The John Hopkins team looks to the future to make the lab systems capable of being used for 21CFR11-compliant research. The fact that Loftware technology already meets those guidelines is useful as they build their plans.

For more information about the label printing solution described in this Johns Hopkins lab or any of the proven products in Loftware's suite of labeling software and tools for healthcare barcode and RFID marking, please contact us today.