News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel

News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel
Sign In

Evolution and Revolution in Anatomic Pathology Discussed by Experts at Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory This Week

Because of ongoing advances in gene sequencing and the data analytics needed to interpret that information, new approaches to clinical care are becoming available to physicians and pathologists

COLD SPRING HARBOR, NEW YORK—Internationally-recognized as a leader in bringing together the brightest minds in genetics, the Banbury Center at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) produced a three-day conference here last week to explore the future state of anatomic pathology and identify opportunities in genetic medicine and image sciences that play to the strengths of the nation’s pathology laboratories.

“Evolution and Revolution in Anatomic Pathology: Automation, Machine-Assisted Diagnostics, Molecular Prognostics, and Theranostics” was the title, and the meeting’s organizers were CSHL and the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Northwell Health.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Founded in 1890

The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has a long history and an enviable reputation. It was founded in 1890 to train teachers in biology. However, by 1904, the laboratory’s mission had been expanded to include research in genetics. In 1924, the research mission was further enlarged to include quantitative biology—in particular, physiology and biophysics.

It was in 1968 that Nobel laureate James Watson, then a professor at Harvard University, accepted the directorship of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory while also keeping his professorship at Harvard University. Watson served at some level of leadership until 2008, when he became Chancellor Emeritus. Currently CSHL laboratory houses about 200 research-related personnel. (more…)

Some Hospital-based Physician Pay Trends Identified by Becker’s Hospital Review Could Play to Pathology’s ‘Sweet Spot’

Savvy pathologists and clinical laboratory professionals will look for ways to generate increased value to clinicians by becoming partners and consultants in clinical decisions

Becker’s Hospital Review has identified seven trends in hospital-based physician pay that have emerged over the past several years. These trends reflect fundamental changes in the private practice of medicine and will be of interest to those pathologists and clinical laboratory managers who provide medical laboratory tests to office-based physicians.

As defined by Becker’s in a story published last year, the seven trends indicate shifts in income, along with increasing numbers of physicians migrating out of private practice to salaried hospital positions. Pathologists will want to keep these trends in mind as they plan their personal careers, taking special note of emerging opportunities to generate value in new ways. (more…)

Huge Molecular Asteroid on Track to Smash Planet Pathology and Planet Radiology

Powerful, fast-moving trends are propelling pathology and radiology toward personalized medicine

February 11, 2009

It is no exaggeration to characterize the advances in molecular technologies as a huge “molecular asteroid” on a target path to smash Planet Pathology and Planet Radiology. That is the collective wisdom shared by experts speaking here in Philadelphia yesterday and today at the second annual Molecular Summit on In Vivo and In Vitro Integration.

This important conference, produced by The Dark Report, is the only global event which brings together innovators in the fields of molecular imaging, molecular diagnostics, and health informatics to share their progress on establishing integrated diagnostic and therapeutic services for clinicians and patients. Yesterday’s podium fireworks offered attendees impressive insights on the current level of molecular transformation underway in molecular imaging and molecular diagnostics-along with a impressive consensus on the future for these diagnostic areas.

For example, keynote speaker George Poste, DVM, Ph.D., Chief Scientist and Director of The Biodesign Institute of Arizona State University, laid out a compelling argument that personalized medicine is an unstoppable trend. Poste, a leading international expert on biomarkers, declared that multi-modality diagnostics will play an essential role in how healthcare evolves toward a pro-active healthcare system organized to serve the needs of personalized medicine.

Of particular interest to pathologists and laboratory professionals, Poste characterized the field of diagnostics as rapidly organizing around multiplex, automated, miniaturized assays, amid plenty of chaos as new science and technologies upset long-standing practices in laboratory medicine. He illustrated this chaos by noting that “there are approximately 157,000 biomarkers in the literature with some claim of validity. These biomarkers were developed mainly in academic settings and are supported mostly by anecdotal evidence.”

Throughout the day, experts at the Molecular Summit podium stressed several common themes about how molecular imaging and molecular diagnostics is transforming. These are valuable insights for the many pathologists and radiologists who work in community hospital settings and don’t often have the opportunity to participate in conferences such the Molecular Summit on In Vivo and In Vitro Integration:

* Personalized medicine is already happening. It is not an idea, but is now an active trend in the American healthcare system.
* There will be swift progress to move away from single-analyte assays (such as potassium and chloride) and single biomarker tests (such as HER2/Neu) in favor of multi-analyte assays. Microarrays with their tens of thousands of data points are just one example of how diagnostics is incorporating huge amounts of measurement points.
* Multi-modality disease assessment will become the norm. Molecular imaging, molecular diagnostics, and other relevant clinical data sets will be pulled together and assessed. Diagnosticians will then provide an integrated answer to the clinicians. This integrated answer will address diagnosis, therapeutic options, and patient monitoring.
* In anatomic pathology, technology will make it possible to extract quantitative data from specimens. The technology will reduce human variability in assessment of the specimen and will provide richer information for diagnosis, to guide therapeutic decisions, and patient monitoring.

Dark Daily will provide more insights from this Molecular Summit, which continues through the end of today. As noted above, there is strong consensus among the speakers that a transformation of diagnostic services is underway. Such a consensus among numerous experts in molecular imaging, molecular diagnostics, and health informatics is, by itself, confirmation that a major trend is unfolding.

Armed with this understanding, it explains why the metaphor of a huge molecular asteroid striking Planet Pathology and Planet Pathology is apt. Look for additional intelligence about the presentations and insights emerging from this year’s Molecular Summit!

Your Dark Daily Editor,

Robert L. Michel

Related Information:

2009 Molecular Summit on In Vivo and In Vitro Integration

;