Oct 3, 2016 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Clinical laboratories and pathology groups may eventually use these devices to detect minute quantities of biomarkers
IBM has regularly declared its interest in being a player in the field of healthcare big data. Now comes news that the information technology giant wants to develop lab-on-a-chip (LOC) technology that can handle different types of clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology tests.
As reported in Nature Nanotechnology, researchers at IBM are working with a team from Mount Sinai Health System. Together, they created a lab-on-a-chip device capable of separating biomolecules as small as 20nm in length from urine, saliva, or blood samples without the need for specialized clinical laboratory equipment. The technology is called nanoDLD.
Current testing of this lab-on-a-chip focuses on exosomes and cancer research. However, researchers note that the asymmetric pillar array on their silicon chip can also separate DNA, viruses, and protein complexes. With further development, they hope to separate particles down to 10nm in length. This would allow isolation of specific proteins. (more…)
Sep 17, 2016 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Increased understanding of the genetic basis of an individual’s response to drugs, including how and how quickly a drug is metabolized (pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics), has created rich opportunities for the establishment and expansion of PgX services.
Expertise such as this that is beyond traditional lab medicine is crucial to the future success
of your laboratory.
Pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics have opened the door to a progressively personalized approach to drug prescription. By identifying drugs most likely to benefit a patient, assessing the likely dose response, potentially avoiding adverse reactions, and reducing unnecessary use of drugs, pharmacogenomics testing (PgX) has helped optimize treatment and reduce costs associated with complications or inappropriate utilization.
As research demonstrating the clinical utility and associated health economics benefits of PgX has grown—along with the soaring trend toward value-based healthcare—PgX services are now on the path to becoming the standard of care. This demand for PgX presents a tremendous opportunity for clinical laboratories, many of which have already over the last few years successfully launched PgX services, and enjoyed robust growth. (more…)
Sep 9, 2016 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Offering lower costs and quicker returns than much of the traditional lab equipment in use today, lab-on-a-chip devices are again in a position to revolutionize pathology and medical laboratory work
For nearly 20 years, researchers have heralded microfluidic devices, paper-based diagnostics, and other lab-on-a-chip (LOC) technologies, as ways for medical laboratory scientists, pathologists, and other medical diagnostic professionals to reduce the time and costs of clinical laboratory services. With the promise of obtaining results in just minutes without the need for extensive training, these point-of-care tests and devices create big buzz with each new design.
An yet, after all that progress, most laboratories still depend on their spectrometers, flow cytometers, blood analyzers, and other equipment for the bulk of their testing and routines.
That leaves one major question for clinical laboratory professionals and chip developers alike—when is the revolution? (more…)
Sep 7, 2016 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Oak Ridge National Laboratory sees potential for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to control disease and assess treatments
What do you get by blending microscopy with mass spectrometry? A new multi-tasking tool for studying disease progression and response to treatments in patients.
Combining these two technologies into a single device could also have uses for clinical laboratory scientists and pathologists. However, much research must be done before such a device is ready to obtain FDA clearance for use in clinical settings by the nation’s medical laboratories.
The new device was created by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tenn. They created an imaging system that supplies microscopy with spatially resolved chemical analyses.
This new development will be of high interest to surgical pathologists who work with microscopes and clinical chemists who currently perform mass spectrometry testing. It shows how one research effort has the potential to bring together two technologies regularly used in laboratory medicine. (more…)
Jul 25, 2016 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
The idea that human beings could be created without biological parents sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but it’s not, and the technology could be available in the not so distant future
It’s not known how many pathologists and clinical chemists were in attendance at a secret meeting that took place in Boston in May, which was organized to investigate the feasibility of building a synthetic human genome.
Nearly 150 scientists, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and ethicists met in a closed-door session at Harvard Medical School to discuss creating a synthetic human genome. Although this meeting was secret, people took notice. The possibility of using a synthetic genome to create human beings—without biological parents—understandably caused concern among the life science communities, the New York Times reported, and the apparent secrecy fueled speculation that ignited controversy, which spread rapidly. (more…)
Jun 24, 2016 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
This low-cost solution opens new doors for low-resource regions and, in many cases, allows operators to rule out malignancy without the need for a pathologist to review biopsies
Rapid development of endoscopic technologies is bringing medical professionals closer to point-of-care pathology than ever before. The goal is to allow physicians to identify diseased or cancerous tissue in situ and reduce or eliminate the need to biopsy tissue for examination by surgical pathologists.
Researchers at Rice University in Houston are developing a high-resolution microendoscope (HRME) that offers the ability to view tissue at a subcellular level. This fiber optic probe would reduce the need to collect the biopsy that is typically sent to anatomic pathologists for analysis.
Measuring 1-mm in diameter, the probe works using the existing accessory channel of the endoscope. Touching it to the surface of the tissue provides real-time in vivo images to the technician at up to 12 frames per second on an accompanying tablet display. Images are enhanced using visual overlays and an algorithm that highlights the nuclei of cells within the field of view. The HRME system is battery powered and fits in a briefcase for easy transport. (more…)
