How 34 Lives Saves Lives One Kidney at a Time With QBench LIMS

Every day in the United States, approximately 34 patients are removed from the kidney transplant waiting list either because they die or they become too sick to receive a transplant. 

The team at 34 Lives is on a mission to bring that number down to 0.

Chris Jaynes and Kathleen St. Jean cofounded 34 Lives in 2021 and began the work of rescuing kidneys in 2024. Located at the Purdue University Research Park, 34 Lives is leveraging innovative technology and services to extend the safe preservation times for kidneys that would otherwise go unused.

To do this, they break their process into three primary steps:

• An OPO contacts a transplant team with information on a donor and a kidney, which the transplant team can accept or reject. If the kidney meets acceptance criteria, the kidney is transported by ground or charter aircraft to the 34 Lives’ Organ Rescue Laboratory.
• Once it arrives at 34 Lives, it is kept alive and healthy with warm normothermic preservation to extend the out-of-body time; data and assessments are provided to an accepting transplant hospital.
• The rescued kidney is transported to the transplant hospital with a detailed assessment and additional data on each kidney, leading to more informed decision-making.

The Search for a Modern and Flexible LIMS up for the Job

34 Lives needed a flexible LIMS that would be adaptable to their unique needs and workflows. 

Like many labs seeking help with data management, their search for software started with ERPs to support their inventory control, document control, and planning needs. While ERPs can be useful for managing and organizing data, they fall short of a LIMS when it comes to compliance, inventory management, and workflow automation. 

After further research, they settled on a LIMS and sought out platforms that balanced flexibility with ease of use for their staff. Chris and the team began a thorough exploration of LIMS; however, they weren’t able to find one that was robust, flexible, or intuitive to meet their specific needs. In addition, many LIMS promised flexibility but that often came with added development services and expensive code to maintain.

“When I came across QBench, I thought, “Oh, this sounds like a lot of the things our previous provider was promising to us – but here are some actual examples of it working… The support has been just tremendous, and the team is responsive. I really like working with QBench.”

–Chris Jaynes, Co-founder, 34 Lives

Flexibility With Ease of Use: A Lifesaver

QBench delivered a flexible and configurable LIMS that could adapt to the specific workflows of 34 Lives without a line of code. As well,  QBench LIMS is intuitive enough for anyone on the team to make adjustments, including: 

• Creating a custom workflow with QBench’s no-code workflow tools
• Creating reports for customers
• Generating test worksheets
• Managing compliance in QBench’s integrated QMS
• Monitoring inventory, including lot numbers, expiration dates, and recalls

QBench is proud to partner with 34 Lives and to play an integral role in empowering and enabling this life-saving work. 

See the Power of QBench LIMS For Yourself

Is your lab accomplishing life-changing work while struggling through the constraints of its tools and software?

Have you been frustrated by rigid legacy LIMS that require advanced IT resources or development work to modify to your changing workflows?

If you want a LIMS that is flexible enough to scale with you while empowering your team to get more done, we recommend checking out QBench. 

Click the button below to schedule a free demo to discover how QBench can accelerate your lab’s work—so you, too, can focus on what matters most.