Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL)

“Clustermarket has become a fundamental tool since we launched and presented it to our scientific community on October 26th, 2020, as the new booking system to manage all the services we offer in the Campus, as IDIBELL Scientific & Technical Platforms. It is an easy, flexible, intuitive, and very robust tool to work with.

Institute's profile

The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) located near Barcelona, is a biomedical research institute focused on cancer, neuroscience, translational medicine, and regenerative medicine as principal areas of investigation. It was one of the first five Spanish research centers accredited as a health research institute by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III. IDIBELL’s scientific and technical services are crucial for the research activities, therefore, making the main goal of the facilities to support the research of the entire institute.

Technical Platforms have complex equipment and are led by highly qualified and specialized staff that provide instrument maintenance, experimental guidance, and training courses to ensure optimal use of the equipment. Common Services coordinate all rooms and facilities of general use, such as the biosafety lab, the radioactivity lab, the cryogenic lab, washing and sterilization rooms, and general lab equipment. Together they collaborate to ensure the prevention of occupational hazards.

Scientific and technical Services – Idibell

Clustermarket is actively used by Common Services, Molecular Interactions, Histology, Flow Cytometry, and Optical Microscopy Platforms at IDIBELL.

• Number of users: 332
• Number of instruments: 
•      Common Services: 16, including Light Cyclers from Roche Life Science and Laminar Air Flow Cabinets from Telstar.
•      Molecular Interactions: 4, including a Seahorse XF Analyzer from Agilent Technologies.
•      Optical Microscopy: 11, including Fluorescent Microscopes from Leica and Carl Zeiss, as well as a TEM and a SEM from JEOL.
•      Histology: 3, including a Microtome from Thermo Fisher Scientific.
•      Flow Cytometry: 4, including a Cell Sorter and two analyzers from Beckman Coulter.

• Research areas: cancer research, neuroscience, translational medicine, and regenerative medicine
• Location: Barcelona, Spain
• Previous system: Bespoke old internal booking system designed for the center 10 years ago.

Research

Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a research center aimed at improving the health problems of people. To achieve this, carrying out basic and clinical high-level research is necessary. IDIBELL has its own researchers but it also integrates the research carried out at the University Hospital of Bellvitge, the Hospital de Viladecans (both of the Catalan Institute of Health), the Catalan Institute of Oncology at the University of Barcelona, Hospitalet, and the University of Barcelona at the Campus of Bellvitge. More than one thousand IDIBELL researchers are organized in four thematic areas: cancer, neuroscience, translational medicine, and regenerative medicine, nine research programs, and close to seventy groups.

Research – Idibell

Problem

IDIBELL started having issues with their previous system failing - with users experiencing recurring breakdowns and having the booking calendar unavailable for days. This caused the instrument bookings to be managed via mobile devices and Outlook calendar, resulting in an exhausting, demanding, and very time-consuming experience.

The team support behind Clustermarket is a bonus. They have always been professional, helpful, and very efficient when answering all our questions. Both Reports & Announcements features are now essential for billing and getting all our users updated on equipment status or training courses”.

Solution

Clustermarket now supports all these researchers and managers with their research and day-to-day operations by helping easily manage instrument bookings. The resource booking system allows robust, agile, and efficient management of instruments, as well as giving a clear availability overview in a real-time calendar. Immediate announcements help the labs reach all users to inform about instrument status and availability and the reports feature helps make billing hassle-free.