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

New Industry Emerging to Provide Cloud-based Computing Firepower Needed for Big Data Genomic Analyses of Healthcare and Medical Laboratory Information

Cloud-based genetic research networks that facilitate collaboration by stakeholders worldwide may solve the most difficult disease challenges, including a cure for cancer

Coming soon to a clinical laboratory near you: cloud-based “big data” genome analysis! A new industry is emerging dedicated to accepting, storing, and analyzing vast quantities of data generated by next-generation gene sequencing and whole human-genome sequencing.

There are already examples of academic departments of pathology and laboratory medicine that have outsourced the storage and annotation of whole human genomes sequenced from tissue specimens collected from cancer patients. The annotated genomes are returned to the referring pathologists for analysis. (more…)

Two Different Point-of-Care Test Devices for Malaria Show Why Emerging Technologies Can Be Disruptive to Clinical Pathology Laboratories

Separate research projects at University of Washington and in the United Kingdom are producing handheld diagnostic devices to accurately detect Malaria

Two new handheld, point-of-care test (POC) devices for malaria  could save millions of lives in third-world countries. At the same time, these POC devices may lead to inexpensive alternatives for diagnosing common diseases in developed nations as well.

Clinical laboratory test developers see a big opportunity in developing assays to detect Malaria. That is because an estimated 200 million cases of malaria are diagnosed annually, resulting in the death of about 100 million people each year.

Recently, two organizations released news about the specific testing devices they have developed to detect malaria. One group is at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. The other group is NanoMal, a biotechnology company located in the United Kingdom. (more…)

Biomedical and Molecular Diagnostics Firms Compete To Hire Already-Scarce Medical Laboratory Technologists

In Silicon Valley, biotech and molecular companies “raid” hospital laboratories to hire away MTs and CLSs

Competition for already hard-to-find medical technologists (MT) and clinical laboratory scientists (CLS) is heating up as biomedical and molecular development companies vie with hospitals and medical laboratories for these highly-prized workers. Growth in demand for MTs and CLSs by biotech companies means that clinical laboratories will face stiff competition when recruiting and hiring for these positions.

This competition for hiring MTs and CLSs was recently the topic of a story in the San Francisco Business Times (SFBT). Molecular development companies in the Bay Area want to hire qualified clinical laboratory professionals. The demand pressure from this emerging sector is driving up wages and further stressing the capacity of underfunded job-training programs, according to the article. (more…)

Pathologists Take Note: C. Craig Venter Just Created the First Synthetic Life Form

Milestone achievement may lead to more sophisticated clinical laboratory tests


Now science can create synthetic life forms and J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., is the first to do it. The landmark feat, which involved building the genome of a bacterium from scratch and incorporating it into a cell, “paves the way for designer organisms that are built rather than evolved,” noted the author of an article in guardian.co.uk.

J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., best known to pathologists and clinical laboratory scientists for his role in sequencing the first human genome, achieved the feat at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland. Venter and his team synthesized the 1.08 million base pair chromosome of a modified Mycoplasma mycoides genome. The synthetic cell, called Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0, is proof of the principle that genomes can be designed in the computer, chemically made in the laboratory, and transplanted into a recipient cell to produce a new self-replicating cell controlled by the synthetic genome. The experiment demonstrates how fast genetic technologies are advancing.

(more…)

UA Research Will Accelerate Development of Clinical Laboratory Blood Test for Breast Cancer

Use of synthetic antibodies and a finger prick sample of blood could give clinical laboratories new tool to screen for breast cancer


A simple clinical pathology laboratory blood test for early detection of breast cancer may be just around the corner. At the University of Arkansas (UA), researchers are building a library of synthetic antibodies called affitoids that can be used to detect breast cancer in its earliest stage.

Researchers believe they are closing in on the creation of an assay that can rapidly validate proteins secreted by microscopic breast cancer cells. “We want to implement a rapid screen that is sensitive, highly accurate, non-invasive and inexpensive,” said Shannon Servoss, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at UA. “Such a test would be easy to use and applicable to women of all ages, races and ethnicities,” she said. “Hopefully we will be able to make the test sensitive enough so that only a finger prick [specimen] is needed.”

(more…)

;