Konbest – A Web-Based Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) for TDM-Laboratories

In times of SaaS (software as a service) and web2.0 technologies the field of Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) is changing rapidly and radically, moving away from client-server-applications towards browser-based solutions which afford less maintenance on the client-side and make it easier to provide continuous updates. Konbest is a browser-based LIMS, specially developed for scientifically oriented TDM-Laboratories (Therapeutic drug monitoring) supporting the entire workflow in the Lab.

Konbest features an easy to use browser-based interface, focusing on the main tasks occurring in a TDM-Lab, starting with the collection of patient and assay data and ending with mailing the report as PDF-document via email, snail mail or fax. Every single step within the process is logged for later traceability. Role based access control ensures that every lab-employee only sees the tasks he or she may and needs to do at the given moment. Further more Konbest provides internal data analysis functions as well as export functions for external statistics software.

Lately added key feature of Konbest is a support system, which assists the lab scientist in writing precise, thorough and relevant reports. It calculates dose related reference ranges, rates the measured serum concentrations according to these ranges and automatically generating text modules.

Konbest implements a fully object orientated approach following the MVC (Model-view-controller) architectural pattern. Konbest is mainly backed by a relational database, being independent from a particular product, as it uses object-relational-mapping- and database-abstraction layers. Secure communication over the internet is granted by TLS (Transport Layer Security) and full internal anonymization of patient data.

Konbest is an interdisciplinary effort and work-in-progress. People and knowledge from different domains like pharmacology, psychiatry, information science and bioinformatics need to be integrated. Ongoing development of Konbest is mainly focused on implementing further rule-, ontology and case-based-reasoning algorithms for (semi-)automatic generation of laboratory reports, helping the attending physician in improving his medical treatments.