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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Helping Pathologists Use New Technology to Identify and Classify Cancer-Related Cells Research

Nov 7, 2011 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Pathology

Enhanced functionality of software promises a giant boost in tissue analysis

Surgical pathologists may have an exciting new tool for identifying and classifying cancer-related cells. Medical researchers at Duke University are demonstrating that “active learning” software developed for finding and recognizing undersea mines can help pathologists identify and classify cancer-related cells.

The Duke research team embedded the active learning software into an existing software toolkit, called FARSIGHT, which is a collection of software modules. FARSIGHT was designed to rapidly analyze images of human tissue collected from laser-scanning microscopes, an article in University of Houston Engineering News explained. It can be scripted to accomplish a variety of automated image analysis tasks, from analyzing brain tissue to studying the effectiveness of medications.

“The results are spectacular,” said Lawrence Carin, Ph.D., Professor, Electrical Engineering Department at Duke, stated in an Office of Naval Research press release. “This could be a game-changer for medical research.”

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Duke University Study Suggests Gene Patents Don’t Advance Care for Patients

May 3, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology

Pathologists already find it difficult to obtain gene patent licenses needed to offer multi-gene molecular diagnostic tests

Patents on human genes are a major issue in pathology and clinical laboratory testing. Now a new report based on the study of the positive and negative consequences of gene patenting comes to the conclusion that patents on human genes tend to deter competition in the gene testing market more than they encourage further development of new technologies for measuring the risk of disease.

Medical science is on the brink of mainstreaming genetic discovery into patient care. But patents and exclusive licensing threaten to fragment ownership of the human genome and derail the promise of personalized medicine for everyone, observed James P. Evans, M.D., Ph.D., Clinical Professor of Genetics at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill,  in his commentary on a new report from Duke University that focused on the impact of patenting and exclusive licensing of human genes.

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