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University of Oregon Chooses Technology Partner for Research Oversight

• By Kevin Hudson
• 03/18/13

The University of Oregon has adopted new research management software in an effort to increase safety, improve efficiency, and ensure compliance.

The university chose a-tune software's tick@lab solution to provide administrative oversight for many of its research studies.

"A-tune software's suite of products will help the university enhance productivity and reduce compliance risk throughout the research community," said Monte Matthews, Oregon's director of Animal Care Services. "We will utilize this software suite to increase efficiencies for our Animal Care and Use Committee processes, animal procurement, veterinary care, transgenic breeding and overall operations management."

Andreas Staubi, president and CEO of a-tune software, said in a company release that as the use of zebra fish in research increases at Oregon, a-tune will provide technology tools to assist with the rapid expansion of the model. This technology is intended to increase efficiency and reduce compliance risk at the institution by seamlessly integrating the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Institutional Biosafety Committee, and vivarium operations.

Tick@lab software for management of lab animals, breeding colonies, and animal facilities includes:

• Forms for the submission of protocols as per applicable national laws and guidelines, along with ensured compliance with organization-specific standards, laws and guidelines;
• Workflows for monitoring, approval, and forwarding to respective authorities or ethical committees;
• Individual workflows for requests and orders from external suppliers as well as from internal breeding;
• Up-to-date information online about current and future occupancy and capacity for rooms, sections, and buildings;
• Animal CV and History records containing a chronology of all activities and data changes;
• User-defined templates for all kinds of animal data, such as medical observations, treatments, and studies;
• Management of breeding lines and colonies;
• User-defined reporting for animal facility management, users, research, and authorities; and
• Simple, cost-effective operation, including heterogeneous IT environments and operation across site boundaries with Web technology.

A-tune software, established in 1998, is a software house with headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, and an affiliate in Cambridge, MA. The company has been primarily focused data management for research and development in life sciences, along with task and project management for the insurance, financial services, and IT industries.

The University of Oregon is located in Eugene, OR, and is among 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 American universities for top-tier designation of "very high research activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.