Mar 11, 2015 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
These genetic tests cut time to answer from days to a few hours, reducing the risk of exposing non-infected patients and improving outcomes for Ebola patients
In response to the continuing outbreak of Ebola in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, more attention has been given to medical laboratory testing in these countries, along with a rush to develop diagnostic tests that can detect Ebola faster and more accurately without the need for state-of-the art clinical laboratories that are uncommon in those nations.The lack of even limited basic services in the region, such as electricity, hinders any attempt to install modern diagnostic facilities and clinical laboratories essential to controlling and preventing further spread of the disease. Another issue is the lack of trained pathologists, Ph.Ds., and clinical laboratory scientists to staff such labs in those nations.
One solution to this challenge, however, is for developed nations to provide mobile medical laboratories and hospital facilities. Such resources have been contributed by the United States, Canada, and several European countries. (more…)
Feb 11, 2015 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Pathology
This collaborative effort with microbiology labs will keep microbiologists at the forefront of infectious disease diagnostics
A partnership of San Diego-based genome sequencing company Illumina, and the French multinational, in vitro diagnostics company bioMérieux, plans to launch a next-generation sequencing (NGS) epidemiology service that will allow microbiologists to rapidly identify strains that threaten hospital inpatients and public health, according to a press release distributed by the Illumina-bioMérieux team.
Illumina-bioMérieux Service to Aid Hospital and Public Health Labs
Illumina designated sequencing laboratories with Illumina MiSeq® systems will collaborate with microbiologists working in hospital and public health laboratories to prevent, rapidly track, and contain infectious disease agents in hospitals and communities. (more…)
Nov 26, 2014 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
If validated by additional research, microbiologists, pathologists, and medical laboratory professionals might soon find analysis of the human microbiome to be a useful marker in screening for colon cancer
Microbiologists may play a greater role in the early detection of colorectal cancer, if the findings of a research study at the University of Michigan (UMich) are confirmed with additional clinical studies.
Combining gut microbiome analysis with traditional risk factors for colorectal cancer—such as body mass index (BMI), age, and race—significantly improved the ability of pathologists to distinguish healthy people from those with precancerous or cancerous lesions, wrote researchers from the UMich in a scholarly paper published in the November 2014 issue in Cancer Prevention Research.
Research findings indicate that gut microbiomes may be a major factor in development of colorectal cancer. However, more research is required to determine if this microbial community has the potential to be clinically useful as screening tool for early-stage disease. (more…)
Mar 23, 2012 | Laboratory Pathology
Distinction of “official state microbe” could raise awareness of microbiology among students
Not many pathologists or clinical laboratory managers know that a race is on to become the first state to adopt a specific bacterium as the official state microbe. Wisconsin tried and failed. Now Hawaii is in the race for the distinction.
Just weeks ago, on March 6, 2012, Hawaii’s House of Representatives passed House Bill HB2079. This is a bill that would recognize the bacterium Nesiotobacter exalbescens as the state’s official microbe. This puts Hawaii in the running to be first to officially recognize a state microbe.
(more…)
Jan 30, 2012 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Cheaper, faster, and more accurate rapid gene sequencing technologies show great promise in identifying infectious disease agents
In clinical laboratories across the nation, microbiology has greatly benefited from the introduction of molecular diagnostics in clinical practice. Now the field of microbiology is poised to undergo a more profound transformation of clinical practice, due to advances in whole genome sequencing.
Leaders in this field are calling these developments “transformative” and say they have the potential to change “all aspects of microbiology.” The driver to this emerging trend is advanced technology that makes it possible to sequence the whole gene sequence of an organism in a day or less, for a cost that is $1,000 and falling rapidly.
In the past six months, microbiologists and pathologists at such hospitals as Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, have begun to do whole genome sequencing of microbes found in specimens collected from patients arriving in the emergency room. The New York Times wrote about these developments in a story titled “The New Generation of Microbe Hunters,” that it published on August 29, 2011.
(more…)
