Design and Implementation of a Patient Database to Support a Cancer Research Project

Our research group, at the Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology at Sahlgrenska Academy, is investigating the mechanisms of stomach cancer development due to infection with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori. Stomach cancer is a large health problem throughout the world, being the second-most common cause of cancer death, and the majority of stomach cancers are caused by infection with H. pylori.
A main task of our research project is to collect and store different types of biological samples from patients undergoing endoscopy at the gastroenterology clinic at Sahlgrenska Hospital. Depending on type of sample, these are then stored at different locations and at later times analyzed using various laboratory techniques. The research project involves several hundred patients, and there is therefore a need for a well-designed database system that can keep track of the samples and analysis results of each patient.

Objective of the thesis project:
To design and implement a user-friendly and efficient patient database system that will be used in our cancer research project.

Important features of the database will be
• To be able to keep track of analyses performed and amounts of samples remaining at different storage locations
• To be scalable – plans for the cancer research project are to extend to obtaining samples from other research groups
• To allow export of information to statistical analysis software
• To allow confidential sharing of information between research groups in different countries.

Start date of the thesis project: August/September 2007.