Finding Genomes with ‘Knockout’ Genes Leads to Development of New Therapeutic Drugs, along with Clinical Laboratory Tests for these Biomarkers

Drugs based on knockout genes are expected to trigger the need for companion diagnostic tests that will be performed by pathologists and medical laboratory scientists Pharmaceutical companies and other research programs are developing a new opportunity to use information from human genome sequencing to create a new class of therapeutic drugs. These drugs target “knockout genes” and those same genes are expected to be used as diagnostic biomarkers for clinical laboratory testing as a new field...

ACOs Are Learning to Use Big Data

Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers could find opportunity to add value as providers learn to use big data to improve patient outcomes and lower costs Early adopter accountable care organizations (ACOs) are establishing data warehouses. This is a first step in collecting and analyzing healthcare big data. The move toward integrated care makes big data critical to an ACO’s success. Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers will want to follow the healthcare big data trend because...

Mayo Clinic and Whole Biome Announce Collaboration to Research the Role of the Human Microbiome in Women’s Diseases Using Unique Medical Laboratory Tests

This joint research effort will initiate a new field of clinical laboratory diagnostic tests that target the human microbiome Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine is about to commence clinical trials utilizing innovative clinical laboratory tests that target the human microbiome. Women’s health is the initial focus for these clinical studies. Mayo Clinic is collaborating with San Francisco-based Whole Biome, Inc., to conduct these clinical trials. Whole Biome developed the diagnostic...

New York’s Mount Sinai Medical Center Using Big Data to Improve Clinical Care

Big data is poised to change the healthcare ecosystem and that creates opportunities for forward-looking medical laboratories First-mover academic center, Mount Sinai Medical Center (MSMC), is taking steps to incorporate “big data” into the daily patient-care setting. For the medical laboratory industry, this is a signal event because a major component of healthcare big data will be patient genetic and molecular information. Included on MSMC’s big data team are  its genetics laboratory...

Medicare Officials Post Prices of 3,000 Hospitals in Effort to Raise Consumer Awareness of Arbitrary Hospital Pricing

Goal is to provide transparency to help consumers shop for hospitals; experts predict more transparency in healthcare prices, including for clinical laboratory and pathology testing For the first time ever, a federal agency has posted on the Internet the prices hospitals charge for healthcare services specifically to help consumers price shop when they select a hospital. This is a major development and has direct implications for clinical laboratories and pathology groups that are based in...
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