CASE STUDY 1:
Critical Issue Data Management: Multiple Departments, Isolated Files

Head of Department

"I need to easily organize my files and projects to be able to search and share findings securely. I don’t want to spend hours in setup. I also don’t want to figure out, which essential information is missing due to incomplete data entry."

"Currently, there is no efficient way to organize our data into different categories and to review, comment, reference, annotate and link all the data I care about."

Sentient Solution: The solution is to allow users to add data to an organized, secure data repository by simply dragging files into a folder! Data coming off of instruments can be added to the same data repository completely automatically. The data can then be securely accessed over an intranet or the internet (as you choose) using only a web browser.

Benefit: Data are automatically organized and accessible for search through a browser.







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“As head of our group, I enjoy having all our data cleanly organized and accessible for search through a browser. Previously, the biggest headache was to get everyone’s data properly categorized and with the required level of details into the system. We saved hours in data entry, and are able to securely share our research”.
– Group Leader, major biotech company

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CASE STUDY 2:
Critical Issue: Complex Searches Without IT

Principal Investigator

"I need the ability to run complex queries across my data sources, to understand scientific processes without being an expert in SQL."

"There is no application which allows me to enter just my terms to get a query report. I need to ask IT to prepare a custom SQL every time I need to query."

Sentient Solution: Being able to easily select a predefined query, enter specific terms ad-hoc and run it without IT, is the solution me and my team were looking for.

Benefit: Now everyone can run queries without being expert in SQL. This allows researchers to ask complex, changing questions without waiting for IT help.







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“As scientist, I need to focus on getting my scientific questions answered, not on struggling with an IT department which cannot relate to what I ask. By being able to run and parameterize complex queries on my own, I get precisely what I need when I need it - without IT help or learning a query language. This gives me more time to focus on my research”.
– Principal Scientist, R&D;, pharmaceutical company

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CASE STUDY 3:
Critical Issue: My Team Needs Web-based Access to Diverse Analytical Data

Research Director, Senior Manager

"I need the ability to review analytical data across the departments from a web page. I need my team to be able to access their data securely when they are not in their labs."

"Currently, there is no application which allows me to query and review our in-house databases or analytical files from a single access point."

Sentient Solution: Having a flexible, web-based query which allows reviewing of analytical data, their audit trail and which can connect directly to backend data, povides a controlled sharing environment for our organization.

Benefit: Now everyone has access to diverse data without the need to locally install applications. Those which have special applications can still interact with them, and all can review who contributed to the results.







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“As Research Director, it is mandatory to be able to review different data types in details and have access to information who was involved in data generation and analyisis. Before we deployed the web query, we could not look at many data without going to the computer which held the specific application. Now all data is accesible from anywhere via browser, so we saved a lot of time in review and also improved our collaborations”.
– Research Director, biotechnology company

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CASE STUDY 4:
Critical Issue: I Need To Discover Data Relationships Across Tissues and Methods

Biostatistician, Informatics and Data Analysis

"I need the ability to quickly learn which common perturbations occur across tissues in a disease to help developing a biomarker diagnostic in the most accessible tissue. I need to enhance my internal knowledge with outside resources to refine and qualify my analyses."

"There is no application which allows me to review, associate and link all the data I care about within an associative network. There is no application which allows me to use my expertise to add new data and known relationships."

Sentient Solution: Being able to create associative networks with functional relationships from my own data and to drill-out to experiments and interact with public domain knowledge.

Benefit: I can now see how my experimental data fit together and what is publicly known about that data.







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"Statistical methods let me cluster and describe analytical responses for each method very effectively, but do not provide insights based on relationships which originate in biological dependencies. This network tool not only helps me finding and exploring such relationships, it also allows to merge ontologies and generate network associations which incorporate public pathways and molecular interactions."
- Biostatistician, non-profit research institution

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CASE STUDY 5:
Critical Issue: I Need to Integrate Results from Multiple Experimental Methods to Relate Biomarker Activity to Biological Functions

Senior Director, Translational Medicine

"I need the ability to meaningfully connect results from multiple methods to understand analytical changes in the context of their biological functions."

"Currently, there is no application which allows me to integrate my marker research into a common associative network, learn what biological pathways are associated with it and capture this information."

Sentient Solution: A way of connecting data from multiple methods to visualize and explore commonalities and differences in a network, to connect to external sources to better understand marker data.

Benefit: Being able to connect and review multiple methods helps validating biomarkers in functional context and provides valuable mechanistic insights.







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"Metabolic and gene expression changes resulting from the same toxic insult can represent very different biological processes. Being able to integrate my experimental results
with biological pathways helps me understanding how pharmacodynamic correlations are linked with biological functions and qualifying associations between changes in biomarkers and mechanism of toxicity."
- Senior Director, clinical research organization

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CASE STUDY 6:
Critical Issue: My Team Needs Task Automation And Project Transparency

Research Director, Senior Manager

"I need the ability to review tasks and process status across the departments from a web page. We have many different workflows, and I need my team to get their tasks assigned automatically."

"Currently, there is no application which helps with tasking and allows me to find out where process bottlenecks are so I can quickly address them. Our existing LIMS connects only parts of the organization."

Sentient Solution: A web-based process management which reflects the different roles and helps both, the team and the manager by automating common tasks and providing process transparency.

Benefits: Real-time view on status of all processes and workflow helps identifying bottlenecks in execution. Automated tasking reduces time and cost per person.







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"As Senior Manager, I need to know what is going on in our departments as I am responsible for a timely and cost-saving operation in our research. Since we introduced the Sentient Process Manager, we reduced time and cost per person / per final report from 8 to 3 hours and have also a better control on use of our expensive chemicals."
- Research Director, major research organization

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CASE STUDY 7:
Critical Issue: I Need To Track Chemistry and Biology from Early Stage R&D; through FDA Submission

Vice President, Clinical Trials

"I need to track life-cycle information from early-stage data acquisition and R&D; through FDA submission. I need an automated way to get data in the system and an uninterupted audit trail what happened at any stage of development, and I want to be able to review and sign off in compliance with regulations."

"Currently, data from different stages are kept on separate systems and passed across applications. We do not have a system to automate data input or add required identifiers as needed nor are we able to review the data from any of our systems in their entity."

Sentient Solution: Providing input and process automation and audited workflow and process automation improves productivity and helps generating compliant documentation throughout the entrire data life-cycle.

Benefits: Improved data access, quality and accuracy; increased visibility into project and resource data; improved data rationalization; more effective information collaboration and consolidation; improved operating efficiency and better decisions.







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"Sentient was the only software available that combined chemistries and biologies into one tool capable of supporting the entire R& D to market lifecycle"
- Vice President, clinical trials, biotechnology company

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CASE STUDY 8:
Critical Issue: I Need To Effectively Manage Thousands of Large Images

Head, Oncology and Multimodal Medical Imaging

"We generate large sets of high resolution images every day. Our microscopy workstations have sophisticated analysis software, which generates local files only its software can read. My users would like to be able to archive and manage instrument data automatically while and being able to query the images centrally while still being able to open them in the original software to analyze them locally."

“It is important to be able to directly interact with instrument software as this software has analytical functions I want to use as it addresses specific needs to interact in ways other tools do not provide. While I need to share my data with those which do not have access to the instrument, I still want to utilize its software fully.

Sentient Solution: Being able to categorize, archive and manage imaging data automatically and share images and annotations while maitaining local interaction with the original application for analysis.

Benefits: Ability to manage images centrally while maintaining direct interaction with the instrument software. Ability to review images directly in the microscopy software while being able to share them with others which don’t have the application.







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"Our image management has dramatically improved. As image information is extracted, categorized and stored automatically, we now are able to share our images across the entire group, while our microscopy experts still can analyze them the way they did before. Our department has now much more time for thorough feature examination, which benefits greatly our research."
- Head, oncology, university hospital

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CASE STUDY 9:
Critical Issue: I Need To Anayze my 2DE Protein Gels and Normalize Spots Across Gelsets

Principal Scientist, Process Development Proteomics

"We analyze proteomics samples which originate in our biotech and process development laboratories. Providing quantitative analytical results - analysis of images, including 2DE gels - across sets of images is challenging. It is a labor-intense process, which requires normally lots of user interactions to correclty interpret the data."

"Currently, gels are scanned in different facilites using different imagers and the software which comes with them. As a result, proprietary files can only be viewed on computers which have the application installed, and comparing of spot data is semi-quantitatively at best."

Sentient Solution: Automated image acquisition including metadata directly from imagers significantly reduces time and provides categorization of images. Being able to calibrate and normalize across different separation or staining methods independent of gel size or imager settings facilitates meaningful comparisons of protein expression levels. Images, analyisis results and annotations can beshared across the organization.

Benefits are:
Increased lab performance, improved data access, quality and accuracy, increased visibility into project and resource data and improved collaboration.







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"The automated approach, interacting directly with the instruments, being able to compare different gel sizes and staining methods to normalize protein expression not only significantly improved our analysis methodology, it also made sharing of results and annotations among our groups possible. Overall, we saved a lot of time and increased our analytical quality."
- Principal Scientist, process development proteomics, biotechnology company

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