Translational Research Informatics System Developed to Support Collaborative Research Goals

An institutional goal to develop collaborative partnerships with other research organizations was a key factor in the recent decision by a U.S. university cancer center to select translational research informatics systems in support of their clinical and translational research informatics needs.

With the signing of the contract, the University of Florida Shands Cancer Center (UFSCC; Gainesville, USA) has become the 25th cancer center to adopt the OnCore platform. "We began looking for a new clinical trials management system primarily because of our collaborative agreement with the Moffitt Cancer Center [Tampa, FL, USA],” said Giselle Moore-Higgs, assistant director of clinical trials at UFSCC. "We wanted a system that would allow us to do collaborative clinical research and share data with other organizations and OnCore allows us to do that.”

The OnCore platform is the product of PercipEnz Technologies, Inc. (Madison, WI, USA), a software development company specializing in clinical and translational research informatics for midsize to large organizations. Using OnCore in conjunction with services available through the Crescendo Clinical & Translational Research Exchange, clinical research organizations are able to selectively share protocol, subject, and clinical data with their partners anywhere in the world. Crescendo services are seamlessly integrated with the OnCore platform.

"It's a true pleasure to welcome the Shands Cancer Center into the OnCore community,” said Srini Kalluri, president and CEO of PercipEnz. "I am quite certain that Shands will not only benefit from the collective contributions of the existing Onsemble membership, but they will also become a terrific contributor to the improvement of the broader cancer research operational context.”

UFSCC has set an aggressive timeline to transition from their legacy system to OnCore. "We hope to migrate our data and go live with OnCore for our clinical data by September first,” said Moore-Higgs. In order to accomplish this, the cancer center clinical trials office will rollout the system first. Once that group has fully rolled-out the system, the cancer center will begin reaching out to other research departments doing oncology trials throughout the university. "We hope that OnCore will help us to expand the clinical trials program by allowing us to collaborate across the UF campus,” said Dr. Moore-Higgs.

UFSCC will be implementing both the OnCore Clinical Research Management (OnCore-CRM) and the Biospecimen Management (OnCore-BSM) products. OnCore-CRM offers a comprehensive set of modules for managing all aspects of clinical research: protocol and subject life cycle management; subject safety management; protocol and subject calendar management; study financials management; electronic data capture and data management; paperless committee management with ePRMS study information portal; and custom reporting technology.

The fully integrated OnCore-BSM product supports all aspects of biospecimen and biorepository management: inventory management; annotation management; requisition and distribution management; correlative study sample management; and flexible reporting capabilities.

The clinical and translational research activity at UFSCC occurs primarily on the University of Florida's Gainesville campus.

PercipEnz Technologies develops clinical and translational research management software. The company's flagship product, the OnCore informatics system, is the most widely adopted clinical research platform among academic research organizations and cancer centers in the United States.

The OnCore platform is the result of nearly a decade of experience working closely with large research organizations, including many NCI designated cancer centers and institutes funded by the U.S. National Institute of Health's (Bethesda, MD, USA) Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program.

Related Links:
University of Florida Shands Cancer Center
PercipEnz Technologies
Crescendo Clinical & Translational Research Exchange