OpenSpecimen April status updates

oscon16

Here is a short update on the progress of OpenSpecimen and I hope you will find it informative.

OpenSpecimen is fast becoming the de facto informatics platform for biobanks. Apart from being open source and feature rich, its high degree of configurability and plugin architecture, makes it best suited for any type of biobank.

Feel free to email me in case of questions, feedback or would like to schedule a demo of the new features.

Srikanth Adiga,
OpenSpecimen C.E.O.


OSCON16 – Annual Conference Announcement

Aug 29 – 30, Miami – It’s time to start planning for the “OpenSpecimen Annual Conference – OSCON16”. Register before May 31st to avail early bird discount. Visit oscon.openspecimen.org for more details.


OpenSpecimen v3.1 Released

v3.1 is now available. There are many new features, bug fixes, and improvements. As always, upgrade from previous versions is effortless.

Rapid data entry (RDE) plugin
One of the common specimen collection workflow is to collect primary samples at a clinic and process them in a lab. Towards this, we have developed a high throughput data entry plugin including support for decoding of pre-printed barcodes.

Single click freezer creation
It can be very time-consuming to create a freezer with all its racks, shelves and boxes – one at a time. OpenSpecimen now supports a “container type” feature using which you can rapidly create the whole hierarchy of a freezer in one-click!

Read more and watch video here

Advanced printing options
Now there are a few more options in collection protocol for printing labels, including pre-printing of labels, setting default print options, etc.

Track number of freeze/thaw cycles
This is one of the important factor to determine the quality of a specimen. A new field is added for this which is incremented every time a specimen is processed, distributed, returned etc.

Other enhancements

1. Returned specimens after distribution

2. New bulk import templates

3. New fields in advanced query for advanced reporting


OpenSpecimen v3.2 Release

To be released in June first half…

Simple data entry (SDE) plugin
This plugin is aimed at simple biobanking protocols. Super administrators can now configure a single screen to collect all the details of a specimen in one-go. This will significantly reduce the number of screens and clicks needed to collect a specimen.

Dashboards and dashlets
Ability to configure dashboards as per local needs e.g. site dashboard, protocol dashboard, etc. The dashlets can be even embedded in third party websites or applications.

OpenClinica integration plugin
Similar to the REDCap plugin, Krishagni is developing a plugin to integrate OpenSpecimen with OpenClinica. Click here to read the  detailed requirements.


Conferences and Events

1. Read more about OpenSpecimen at ISBER 2016 in Berlin

2. ESBB / BBMRI Annual Meet, Vienna – Sept 13 – 16

3. Leaders in Biobanking, Baltimore, USA – Sept 7 – 9