Health centre buffs up bedside manner with informatics

The University of Texas Health Sciences Center has selected GenoLogics to provide an informatics solution to support its clinical and translational research initiative. The University of Texas Health Sciences Center, based in Houston, is partnering with The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and the Memorial Hermann Hospital System to conduct research under the newly formed Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences. The centre, which was created to accelerate the translation of basic research into clinical applications, is funded by a Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institute of Health. ‘We are developing new and creative ways to accelerate the delivery of discoveries from our laboratories to our patients,’ said Dr Peter Davies, executive vice president for research (UTHSC-H). ‘We recognise that moving discoveries from the bench to the bedside is enabled by putting in place sophisticated informatics systems that allow us to work with and keep track of the enormous amounts of clinically relevant research data that can be generated by our research scientists. ‘

Enabling a translational research initiative involves many challenges, including the management of the transfer of data between clinical and research domains, as well as the sharing of data between multiple labs and institutions. With seamless data integration on a common informatics platform, the GenoLogics translational research informatics solution can bring disparate data together and support the complex workflows of organizations conducting translational research outcomes.  ‘We chose the GenoLogics’ data management system because it can effectively integrate our omics data and healthcare information into a common platform across multiple facilities and collaborators,’ said Dr Davies. ‘The GenoLogics system will improve the flow of information between multiple core laboratories and the clinic thereby allowing our investigators to apply the most sophisticated research technologies to the understanding of complex human diseases.’