Client: A Pharmaceutical Division of a Global Health care company
BACKGROUND
A pharmaceutical subsidiary of a global healthcare company is focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutics that are used for treating mental illness, neurological disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, fungal infections, allergies, and cancer. An innovator, the company has developed dozens of drugs since its inception.
to support their discovery and development efforts, the company uses a number of analytical techniques, such as multi-mode high throughput screening (Hts) in well plate microscopy systems. these systems are typically used for target identification, target validation, assay development, Hts, hit-to-lead, deep pharmacology, and ADmet analysis. the vast amount of data produced is typically generated in the form of electronic images.
CHALLENGE
the customer needed to support image-driven research in a medium-to-high data throughput environment.
managing the capture, storage, and retrieval of large volumes of image data can present a variety of problems for pharmaceutical organizations. secure information storage can be cost prohibitive unless the system is well designed, and the business benefits are prioritized. using numerous localized DVD/cD backups for data storage limits the accessibility of this valuable information, preventing full utilization of a corporate resource.
“The scientific image data management system deployment has revolutionized the company’s ability to process and store large amounts of image data at acceptable costs.” SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR, GLOBAL HEALTH CARE COMPANY
48
THE SOLUTION
the customer implemented Waters® nuGenesis® scientific
Data management system (sDms), which automatically imports disparate data generated from instruments, scientists, and outside sources into a centralized data warehouse. information can be searched, communicated, and shared among scientists, thereby facilitating laboratory efficiency, regulatory compliance, and product development.
for this implementation, the nuGenesis sDms Platform was combined with a customized user interface and a carefully
developed and tested raw data file archiving strategy. the solutions comprise a scientific image data management system (siDms). this siDms provides optimal support for working with image data – from local workstations to a customized, unified workbench environment – that relies on gigabit network connectivity between building blocks. Key to this successful deployment was its integration with an affordable alternative for managed storage of large quantities of images: Advanced Digital information corporation’s (ADic) total data lifecycle management system.
With the ADic system, data are captured from multiple operating systems that are connected to multiple devices via the storage area network. original data files are captured and indexed by the nuGenesis sDms automated file capture agent; sDms provides central data management of the online and archived data. the platform’s offline storage manager (osm) provides this control to an ADic storage area network and tape library system. A customized unified workbench then facilitates the retrieval of desired files from the archive to a local workstation. this restoration service is robust and takes advantage of the high-speed network between the individual components of the solution. Because of the large volume of data, the network was upgraded to a dedicated one GB network between client computers, servers, and
their offline storage systems. the sDms software Development Kit (sDK) was used to develop custom integration tools to interface with ADic library software. special functionality was included for uploading and downloading large image datasets. iterative tests on 800 GB of data yielded a performance of 5 GB per hour net capture of file data to the ADic library system, and 7 GB per hour net retrieval from the ADic system to the client. Assuming a 50% uptime, the system provided capture and restore capabilities of 400 GB per week, and 600 GB per week, respectively.
BUSINESS BENEFIT
the scientific image data management system deployment has revolutionized the company’s ability to process and store large amounts of image data at acceptable costs. the combined nuGenesis sDms-ADic technology can be leveraged for virtually any type of scientific data. Benefits include:
■
■ elimination of decentralized and unmanaged DVDs/cDs ■
■ Added value to major investments in image acquisition
and processing infrastructure
■
■ Providing data from service labs to client research
departments is simple and flexible
■■ offline image data processing, which enables the company to increase its Hts capacity, as well as its ability to gain new insights into results by reprocessing image sets
the Waters nuGenesis sDms-ADic strategy to build a siDms solution has provided the customer with a unified workbench that delivers image data to the fingertips of the researcher. robust services transparently manage the end-to-end data flows, with functional and performance tests exceeding the initial objectives of data security and throughput.
Waters Corporation 34 maple street milford, mA 01757 u.s.A. t: 1 508 478 2000 f: 1 508 872 1990 www.waters.com
Waters and nuGenesis are registered trademarks of Waters corporation. the science of What’s Possible is a trademark of Waters corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Waters nuGenesis sDms is covered under a formal Quality management system certified by lloyd’s register Quality Assurance. ©2006-2010 Waters corporation. Printed in the u.s.A. september 2010 720001460en lB-AP