Wellcome Sanger Institute to unify genomics workflows with Sapio LIMS

Baltimore-based Sapio Sciences says that its informatics platform has been chosen as the central LIMS to underpin the Cambridge company's ambitious lab transformation programme.

Under the agreement, Sanger will move from a patchwork of legacy LIMS solutions to a foundation centred on Sapio LIMS to support large-scale genomic research, demand planning and lab operations.

The multi-year digital transformation project is being led by the Sanger Institute's Core Operations team, which sits at the heart of the Institute. Core Operations provides a broad range of cellular and genomic workflows that underpin the Institute’s end-to-end research and data-generation processes.

Currently the team utilises digital tools and technology solutions that have been developed to address specific workflow needs, including sample management, storage, planning and lab execution. This patchwork of solutions and technologies has made it harder to coordinate work across teams, plan projects from start to finish and provide visibility of progress to scientists.

One of the initial goals of the transformation is to give Core Operations and scientific teams a clearer view of work coming into the lab, how projects move through complex pipelines, resources that are required at each step and also provide access to key scientific data generated throughout the processing pipelines to scientists.

The transformation will enhance focus on the workflows, data and instruments used across the Cellular Platforms and Genomic Platforms teams and eventually extend across all research units.

“Sapio Sciences is honored to work alongside the Wellcome Sanger Institute as they continue shaping the future of genomic science,” said Mike Hampton, Chief Commercial Officer at Sapio Sciences.

“Sanger helped set the standard for large-scale genomics and they have very clear expectations for their scientific enablement. With this project, we will work together to put Sapio LIMS at the centre of their lab operations, cut out avoidable friction in day-to-day work,and give teams better visibility of the data, workflows and resources that drive their science.”

Simon Moore, COO at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, added: “Giving our scientists clear, reliable answers to ‘Where is my sample and where is my data?’ across complex, multi-team workflows is one of our biggest challenges.

“To plan and deliver their research, our scientists need confidence that sample progress and critical data are always visible and accessible. By moving to Sapio LIMS as our core platform, we can improve how we track, manage and orchestrate work; align resources; and streamline workflows. Sapio gives our scientists modern, configurable tools that keep pace with the way we do science.”