As a Study Director, you're perhaps starting to see some of the limitations in what your staff is able to accomplish, particularly with budget limitations.

Keeping your staff properly trained can also become a major expense you really can't keep up with year after year.  At the same time, you need to keep your reputation in the industry after receiving good client reviews in the past.
All it takes is just one small error from your staff to create a cascading effect in sullying your reputation. Slide results need the utmost care without the problem of artifacts and to assur crisp staining. Fortunately, success in pre-clinical outsourcing has a strong track record, particularly through contract research organizations becoming a top choice.

It's worth your time to see how contract research organizations (CRO) started, what they do, and how they help in numerous medical industries. Hiring one to outsource your lab work can help you in one major aspect: They're exceeding the skills of many laboratories.

How Fast Are CRO's Growing?
We've seen CRO's grow exponentially over the years, and they've come a long way since starting in the 1980s. In their earliest days, they typically took on more low-priority projects, which usually consisted of lab work nobody else would do. Things evolved quickly to a point where the skills in CRO's are now at a major plateau.

Over the last decade, the CRO industry grew exponentially into a major outsourcing market. Expenditures for seeking outsourced services from CRO's is growing steadily as well in numerous scientific communities.

Despite growth, you may still have some concerns about using a contract research organization. You may worry about project control and confidentiality in handing over your slides to an outsourced team.
While most CRO's are top-notch, it pays to prepare before meeting and find out what the organization places in its contract.

Agreements With Your CRO
Vetting is always important before you do any outsourcing of your lab work. The best CRO's always present non-disclosure and technical agreements that tell you exactly what to expect.  Through these agreements, you'll agree to the price of your lab project so you won't have last-minute ballooning costs. With this, you get an experienced team that already has a long list of histology lab work behind them. Many teams in CRO's have extensive medical knowledge to a point where they will likely exceed the knowledge of your own staff.

The experience level of outsourced teams is an example of why so many industries prefer outsourcing lab services.

Dealing With Changes in Your Industry
Histology continues to have more demands than ever, and the pressures for your own lab are likely huge. You likely have to deal with continual changes, particularly government regulations requiring new staff training. Much of this requires extra time you don't have, including constant revising of documents and hiring trainers.

An outsourced team from a CRO comes with extensive training so they understand the latest compliance rules.  All of their lab workers know what histology labs need and can advise you on keeping up with your competition.

Dealing With Scalability
Many CRO's have their own labs and can take your slides directly to their own location for services. They have experience working with multiple species so you can get excellent results when working with tissues of animals.

You'll need this if you realize your lab needs to scale, yet you don't have the resources to expand. Considering your outsourced team does thousands of slides every week, they'll work fast and give you accurate results before your deadline. Contact us at HSRL to utilize our extensive expertise and make your study a success.