Data Management

The data management team is supporting epidemiological studies and clinical trials from the department per good scientific practice in each step of the data lifecycle.

International Team

The core team is located at the BNITM in Hamburg and is cooperating with data management units in several African countries:

Long-lasting cooperation with the data management team at the KCCR in Kumasi, Ghana
Cooperation with several study sites in Tanzania (Korogwe, Tanga, Zanzibar)
Support of projects in Madagascar and multicenter trials in Burkina Faso, Mali, Benin, Gabon)

Meet the data management teams

Drei Datamanager analysieren Daten an einem Computer. Alle drei sind in ihre Arbeit vertieft und schauen auf den Bildschirm des Computers. — Team Assin Fosu, Ghana ©KCCR

7 Datamanager in ihrem Büro in Madagaskar. Ein Datamanager sitzt an seinem Schreibtisch hinter einem Rechner, die anderen stehen neben ihm und lächeln in die Kamera. — Team Fianarantsoa, Madagascar ©BNITM

7 Data Manager aus Benin, Gabon, Deutschland Ghana und Mali stehen draußen vor einem Gebäude. — Team ASAAP from Benin, Gabon, Germany, Ghana and Mali ©BNITM

Team Agogo, Ghana ©KCCR

Eine große Gruppe Mitarbeiter:innen hat sich vor einem Hauseingang aufgestellt und lachen und winkend in die Kamera. — Team Tanzania ©BNITM

REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture)

We are using REDCap to manage our project data. The following activities in the REDCap consortium and familiar features are in detail:

Member of REDCap German User Group (GUG)
Member of REDCap Africa Consortium
System Administration
Quality management
Double data entry
Online/Offline data capture (Browser, Mobile App, Survey)
Integration of ontologies (MedDRA, WHO-DRUG)
Data linkage and integration
Development of software validation concepts

Anna Jaeger hält einen Vortrag auf der RedCap Conference 2022: sie steht auf einer Bühne hinter einem Rednerpult. Rechts von Ihr ist eine große Leinwand mit ihrer Präsentation zu sehen. — Anna Jaeger on the REDCap conference 2022. ©BNITM

Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS)

The data management team is responsible for the administration of the internal BNITM laboratory information management system.

Additionally, independent working open-source LIMS software has been established in our research labs in remote areas. This includes automated result transfer from the lab equipment and management of sample storage and transportation.

MySamples is a software for the management of sample repositories with information on sample characteristics, storage locations, and ownerships.

SENAITE is a comprehensive open-source Laboratory Information Management System designed to streamline our laboratory workflows. The system automates and standardizes processes, from sample registration to result reporting and analysis. The system is customizable to meet specific laboratory needs and integrates with analytical instruments.

OpenSpecimen is an open-source biospecimen management system designed for research and clinical settings. It enables users to register, track, and manage biospecimens from collection to distribution. The system includes features for barcode labelling, location tracking, shipment and chain-of-custody management.

Training of the laboratory teams in Agogo and Assin Fosu, Ghana