Center for Chronic Immunodeficiency (CCI)
CentraXX: At the heart of joint research – a common database and individual access and data management combined with efficiency, user-friendliness and well thought-out structures: these are the characteristics of our CentraXX IT solution that also convinced the scientists at the Center for Chronic Immunodeficiency (CCI) at the University Hospital of Freiburg. The CCI brings together the work and studies of various institutions for the diagnosis and therapy of immunodeficiencies. It is responsible for uniform data and process management for study management and biobanking. With our system architecture, the CCI is now optimally positioned for current and future challenges in the biobank sector.
The Client
The Center for Chronic Immunodeficiency (CCI) deals with the diagnosis and treatment of immunodeficiencies in children and adults, including bone marrow transplantation. The participants – among them physicians, biologists, paediatricians and internists – pursue the goal of understanding and treating chronic immunodeficiency in close cooperation. Patient-oriented research and the transfer of research results to patients are carried out in the Clinical Research Unit (CRU), which brings together all areas of clinical research support and execution, data management, study coordination and biobanking.
The Need
Until now, the CRU had used in-house developed software for its work, but this software reached its limits as the content interlocked. In order to exploit the entire research and information potential, clinical patient data, for example, should be linked with available samples and research data. Such an application, however, is highly sensitive for reasons of data protection and is associated with high requirements, such as anonymization and pseudonymization. In addition, a new biobank system within the CCI should cover all data management tasks for all study types with increasing supply and translational research. The CCI’s catalogue of requirements was correspondingly multi-layered – after all, the task was to implement a system solution that implements these complex content-related and structural ideas, complies with the legal regulations and at the same time is easy to handle for all participants. In addition to these concrete ideas, the CCI aimed for a permanent solution as the cornerstone for an expandable IT landscape that would adapt to changing scenarios and allow for long-term adjustments and extensions.
The Solution
In the search for such a comprehensive, future-oriented system solution, the CCI came across CentraXX from Kairos at an early stage, which has already proven itself in various clinical research units. One advantage for the CCI was that CentraXX offers all options for years to come to continuously implement business-critical requirements for data management systems. The special plus in our concept is that the integrated workflow engine organizes biobanking processes and fulfills all requirements for biobank software. It enables the systematic consolidation and control of data and processes and integrates all involved parties with corresponding access rights. All project partners in decentralised organisations also receive reports and analysis data based on individual authorisations. It goes without saying that the database solution is designed in strict compliance with all encryption and data protection requirements and includes a comprehensive access and role concept.
In view of these features, the CCI’s decision to use CentraXX as its IT core was not difficult. The technically convincing solution was supplemented by our team structure, in which physicians, IT specialists and management consultants work hand in hand and now accompany the implementation exactly tailored to the requirements profiles of the CCI.
By now, the implementation is running at full speed and the deployment is planned for the second half of the year. Following this, there are plans to connect the system to the clinical systems of the CCI in Freiburg. Further cooperation partners can be integrated into the system and thus use a common IT core for interdisciplinary projects. The positive outcome of this project is that with its clear focus on test persons and its modern system architecture, CentraXX combines a convincing strategy with a sustainable IT platform.
