Development of a human biorepository information system at the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center
Sujin Kim PhD; University of Kentucky;
Content:
To support systematic data management for the human biological samples and their associated data, increasing awareness of the design of biorepository information systems has brought much attention worldwide. The objectives of this study were to design and implement a locally based human biorepository information system, and then to compare its functionality and available data elements to the National Cancer Institute's caTISSUE Core application.
Technology:
The UK-BIS is based on a Java Struts framework and interaction with the database is performed using Java Database Connectivity, based on performance requirements. It is a N-tier architecture, containing Clients, Presentation, Object, and Data layers. The client layer contains applications on the client side that requests to perform operations on the server side. The web browser and JAVA HTTP API are two of the client programs in the UK-BIS.
Design:
A series of user needs assessments and existing data standards were used to design the University of Kentucky Biospecimen Information System to systematically support data management for the UK Markey Cancer Center's Biospecimen Core Tissue Bank. The caTISSUE Core was installed and tested to compare the UK-BIS functionality and available data elements. The International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories and the National Biospecimen Network Blueprint were used to evaluate the functionality and the data recommended for human biorepository information systems.
Results:
Essential sub-modules, including user, project, storage, annotation, and dispense profile management, were implemented. Searching and reporting functions also were also available for the predefined data fields. A total of 814 patients with 11 940 samples were recorded in the system and housed at the Kentucky Cancer Registry (Lexington, Kentucky) server to ensure secure and consistent system administration.
Conclusion:
The study found that the UK-BIS had slightly better functionality and more available data elements compared to that of the caTISSUE Core. The UK-BIS currently is implemented in several ongoing projects, and will be modified as needed to support future endeavors. It thus will function as a valuable tool for which greatly enhances investigators' efforts. For further expansion, the caTISSUE Core should play an important role as a central data portal to integrate locally managed repository systems nationwide.
