About BioFortis: FAQs

How is Labmatrix™ different than a LIMS?

Laboratory Information Management Systems are in widespread use, particularly within the pharmaceutical industry as well as high throughput labs and core facilities. These systems typically manage raw data resulting from a workflow as samples or materials are processed and tested. Labmatrix™ is different in that it more clearly belongs to the class of Research Information Management Systems (RIMS) which aggregate post-processing, statistically-valid, "clean" data from any type of assay or technology platform. This is a necessary, but often overlooked, step before analyses of combined datasets can ensue.

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Why is Labmatrix™ better than Microsoft Access or Excel?

Labmatrix™ enables data to be accessible over the internet, in real time, 24/7 with user access control and commercial-grade security features such as a full audit trail that are not possible with Access and Excel. Traditionally, clinical and research data have resided in separate databases because of the limitation of such systems. In Labmatrix™, however, the integration of clinical, genetic and molecular assay or experimental data is possible due to this level of security. Labmatrix™ is the only application of its kinds to have passed HHS-mandated Certification and Accreditation (C&A) at the National Human Genome Research Institute, which ensures that data is protected, secure, backed up and audited at all times.

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How does Labmatrix™ manage data access for collaborations?

Multi-site studies or operations require access to data regardless of where it resides. Data can be accessed in Labmatrix™ in real time by all sites, whatever their physical location, via regular internet access, but limited by any permissions or restrictions set for user accounts via Labmatrix™’ fine-grained Access Control model. Access control is an integral part of Labmatrix™ and enables the creation of user groups with access permissions or restrictions to any Labmatrix™ study, module, action and to the ability to view and manipulate Protected Health Information to facilitate HIPAA compliance. For example, a particular collaborator may have access to only the data they submit, the study subjects or samples from their site, or can be read-only in one study, but full access to another. We work closely with all our clients to ensure that access control is set appropriately for each user in a multi-site study or operation.

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Why Buy rather than Build?

SAVE TIME and MONEY

Custom development costs more, both in terms of time and money, and delivers less than licensing Labmatrix™:

  • custom development requires months to years of time in the reiterative development cycle of requirements gathering, translation to technical specifications, prototype construction, beta testing. Labmatrix™ is ready for you to use today!
  • custom development requires multiple technical personnel for the different stages of system design and build, from domain experts to project managers to the engineering and training teams. BioFortis’ technical infrastructure includes a multi-disciplinary team with the expertise and experience available to serve our customers today!
  • custom development requires ongoing support and training, which translates into maintaining a team of skilled personnel dedicated to these endeavours. Labmatrix™ training and customer support are incorporated into our licensing model, eliminating the need for maintaining FTEs. All Labmatrix™ support personnel are cross-trained in both life sciences, clinical research and IT.
  • custom development requires an investment in server hardware and software. Labmatrix™ is offered as both an enterprise installation or as a more affordable hosted solution by subscribing to our professional data hosting facility.
  • custom development requires redundant efforts for development of customized solutions to be used for specialized applications, different therapeutic areas or research area of focus. Labmatrix™ is disease-neutral, supporting study of any type of disorder, both inherited and sporadic. User-driven customization provides vocabulary and ontology for therapeutic area of focus.
  • custom development requires maintenance of software development personnel for system upgrade for the life of the application, or risk becoming obsolete or non-interoperable. Labmatrix™ licensing incorporates all version upgrades, currently averaging 3 releases annually, to keep up with the pace of technology and new developments in the field.
  • custom development requires redundant development of technical interfaces for multi-system integration. Labmatrix™ is designed with interfaces to integrate with existing and future IT infrastructure, on both the clinical (ie: electronic medical record) and the molecular analytical (ie: LIMS systems or analytical software) side.
  • custom development requires solutions to maintain regulatory compliance. Labmatrix™ is built with a multi-dimensional access control engine to enable fine-tuned access permissions and restrictions for multi-site users and collaborators.
  • custom development delivers one-of solutions lacking the scope to support both current and future growth. Labmatrix™ was designed with an underlying flexible infrastructure to grow with increasing scopes of future research undertakings and goals.
  • custom development requires labor-intensive efforts in successive rounds of beta-testing and refinement. Labmatrix™ has been refined by user feedback over many years from multiple different institutes, each focusing on different therapeutic areas and incorporating cross-disciplinary, multi-functional users.

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How much does Labmatrix™ cost?

Labmatrix™ comes with many different implementation options both in terms of licensing options, add-on functionality, customization, hosting and professional services. For further information about Labmatrix™ pricing for your specific configuration, please contact BioFortis at 443-276-2464 or send an e-mail to info@biofortis.com.

Licensing options:

Labmatrix™ is sold by subscription licensing. There are a number of different types of Labmatrix™ licenses, and a different combination of which will work for every research group or institute, depending on access needs and Labmatrix™ usage.

  • Named user licenses provide access on demand to a single, named user.
  • Shared user licenses enable Labmatrix™ access to multiple users, each maintaining their individual access permissions and restrictions, but concurrent access is limited to the number of shared licenses purchased.
  • Enterprise / site licenses enable unlimited Labmatrix™ access for all members of an organization, institute or department.

Contact licensing@biofortis.com for further questions regarding Labmatrix™ licenses.

Optional functionality:

  • Barcode licensing enables formatting and printing specimen barcodes from within Labmatrix™. If you are already barcoding specimens with different software, you can still capture the existing barcode for sample identification even without barcode licensing.
  • Pedigree viewer licensing is available for automatic, interactive generation of family pedigrees to support inherited disease research. Pedigrees are generated based on familial relationships captured in Labmatrix™ and can be exported as jpeg or xml.
  • API and HL7 developer licenses are available as options to integrate Labmatrix™ into existing IT infrastructure or further data generation. API licensing enables access to your data in a manner amenable for data mining, predictive algorithm development, electronic data import ↦ export and other bioinformatics utility.

Data hosting options:

Professional data hosting is available through secure professional data hosting center featuring redundant system security, backup and network connectivity. Advantages include cost and time savings, rapid database setup and no upfront investment in server hardware and software configuration.

Enterprise installation options are available for customers requiring installation of Labmatrix™ onsite on client servers.

Professional Services:

Professional services are available for customized options such as electronic interfaces, specialized customer projects, or other requested service.

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Congratulations on being named Maryland Incubator Company of the Year. This is a well deserved award and excellent validation of your product. BioFortis has always been a company close to my heart, and I am just delighted to see that others also appreciate you. - Head of Emerging Technology Center in Maryland
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