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
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Multi-channel Smartphone Spectrometer Enables Clinical Laboratory Testing Quickly and Accurately in Remote Regions

Researchers say high accuracy of this $150 portable optical spectrometer enables mobile diagnostic technologies to achieve pathology test results comparable to traditional spectrometers costing far more

What’s the latest thing in a smartphone diagnostic device? It’s a multi-channel smartphone spectrometer! Researchers at Washington State University (WSU) designed the device to detect human cancer biomarkers. It’s hoped that this device can improve cancer detection in rural areas where clinical laboratories may not be easily accessible.

The Multichannel Smartphone Spectrometer (MSS) is a highly accurate, low-cost, portable diagnostic device capable of detecting human cancer biomarkers equally well in rural and busy hospital settings. (more…)

Johnson & Johnson Investing to Learn How to Predict or Prevent Disease; Studies Could Lead to Clinical Laboratory Tests that Detect Disease Earlier and More Accurately

COPD and gestational diabetes research are the subject of two new projects aimed at intercepting diseases prior to onset and identifying preventive treatments

Can new insights into the human genome make it possible to diagnose disease much earlier—even before symptoms can be observed? Multiple research programs are targeting this possibility. One example is being conducted by Johnson & Johnson (J&J). The American multinational medical-device company wants to leverage recent developments in genetics, data analysis, and its worldwide partnerships, in an attempt to answer two profound questions:

• Can the earliest signals of disease be identified; and

• What treatments will assist researchers who are trying to prevent diseases?

To pursue these two goals, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is expanding its existing research project into disease prediction and prevention, which currently involves 24 global partners, according to an Associated Press March story. (more…)

Sleek ‘Lab in a Needle’ Is an All-in-One Device That Detects Liver Toxicity in Minutes during a Study, Showing Potential to Supplant Some Medical Laboratory Tests

Researchers’ prototype uses lab-on-a-chip technology and seems to do it all, from collection and analysis to results in minutes and in the palm of your hand

Here’s a diagnostic workhorse that can also easily slip inside the pocket of a doctor’s white coat. The slim device, created and reported by researchers, integrates a clinical laboratory’s workflow from collecting samples to analyzing them and reporting results in minutes.

The device is dubbed “lab in a needle” by researchers at Houston Methodist and their collaborators at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech). The recently announced study focused on liver toxicity. But the research team says in a news statement that their medical laboratory-in-a-needle has potential to diagnose and monitor therapies for many health conditions in settings well beyond the medical laboratory and hospital.

For clinical laboratory leaders and pathologists, the prototype can be seen as another step forward in efforts to develop more sophisticated point-of-care testing (POCT) that incorporate miniature lab-on-a-chip (LOC) technologies. Mass production could bring the tiny mobile lab’s capabilities to remote and rural communities where low cost and ease of use are essential. (more…)

Medical Scientists Call for Standard Method for Validating Antibodies Used in Research and Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics

Antibody validation standards would help ensure reproducibility of research studies and improve the consistency medical laboratory test results

As science and industry gets better at measuring things and assessing quality, the acceptable standard often comes into question. This seems to be happening with antibodies, the most common reagents used in diagnostics, clinical laboratory diagnostic tests, and medical research. In many cases, the end result is that companies and their suppliers must use new technologies and quality methods to revise the “old way” and create products that have measurable better quality.

The techniques currently used to validate antibodies is the topic of a recently-published scientific paper. The authors of a paper published in the March, 2010, issue of Biotechniques pointed out, antibody validation and standardization ensure study reproducibility, which is critical to accuracy. And yet, no standard guidelines define how these important biological tools should be validated prior to use.

Thus, researchers participating in a recent webinar, presented by The Scientist expressed concern that—without improved antibody validation and standardization—the accuracy of published research is in question and diagnostic test results, such as those produced by medical laboratories, will continue to be inconsistent. (more…)

Get the Poop on Organisms Living in Your Gut With a New Consumer Laboratory Test Offered by American Gut and uBiome

American Gut is using test results to create a microbiome database for use by researchers to better understand how microbes impact human health

Have you ever wondered what lurks in the dark corridors of your bowels? Now you can find out. Two entrepreneurial organizations—one a not-for-profit and the other a new clinical lab company—are charting new medical laboratory territory with the offer of an inexpensive poop test that reveals the type of microbes residing in your gut.

Where to Get Your Gut Microbes Analyzed

The not-for-profit organization American Gut, or British Gut in the United Kingdom (UK), which launched as crowd-funding projects on FundRazr, involve a private research project called the Human Food Project (HFP), which was initiated to compare the microbiomes of populations around the world. The Human Food Project is seeking a better understanding of modern disease by studying the coevolution of humans and their microbes.

People who pay American Gut’s $99 test fee (£75 for the UK project) receive a test kit to collect a stool sample to mail back for DNA sequencing. The test results will be provided to participants, but also benefit microbiome research. (more…)

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