Case Study: University of Chicago achieves streamlined biospecimen management with LabVantage Solutions' Managed Services

They Manage Thousands of Biospecimens While LabVantage Manages Their LIMS

The University of Chicago’s Human Tissue Resource Center (HTRC) was managing thousands of biospecimens, patient consents and complex chains of custody across 23 freezers, 18 staff and over 370 IRB‑approved protocols but had outgrown Excel and a homegrown database. Although the HTRC had adopted LabVantage LIMS 7.1, limited internal IT support prevented needed upgrades and left workflows constrained — prompting the team to engage LabVantage Solutions for a scalable, supported platform.

LabVantage Solutions delivered LabVantage Managed Services to configure, validate and migrate the HTRC to LabVantage LIMS 8.4 within six months (May–Nov 2019), including a dedicated solutions engineer and ongoing monitoring. The implementation centralized biospecimen and pathology data, removed software “pinch points,” accelerated request‑and‑fulfillment workflows, freed the lab’s lone IT resource, and provided faster, around‑the‑clock support — a measurable upgrade evidenced by the successful go‑live and improved user satisfaction.

University of Chicago

Mary Jo Fekete

Technical Director