Jan 26, 2015 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
The advent of the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic editing tool is already generating novel therapies for diseases and will create new opportunities for pathologists and medical laboratories
In just 24 months, a new gene-editing tool has become the hot topic worldwide among researchers working to understand DNA and develop ways to manipulate it for therapeutic purposes. It goes by the acronym CRISPR and it may soon become quite familiar to most pathologists and medical laboratory scientists.
CRISPR stands for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. The gene editing platform is known as CRISPR/CAS9. (more…)
Jan 21, 2015 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Many of these new technologies could help pathologists develop new diagnostic tests and offer medical laboratories opportunities to expand their services
Pathologists and clinical laboratory scientists tracking the hottest new diagnostic technologies may be in interested in the 2014 list of “Top Ten Innovations” recently published by The Scientist.
This is a competition and each year The Scientist has a panel of five experts in life sciences review the entries. Among this year’s Top Ten Innovations are promising diagnostic tools and new technologies with the potential to disrupt the current state of healthcare. In the near future, most of these technologies will be used by researchers to better understand the underlying, genetic cause of diseases and advance new treatments. However, some of these innovative technologies have already been adopted for clinical use. Others are probably several years away from becoming the basis for new medical laboratory tests.
Here is a short overview of The Scientist magazine’s list of “Top Ten Innovations for 2014.” (more…)
Jan 16, 2015 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
This new device will likely to be disruptive to clinical laboratories, as it can noninvasively diagnose at least 16 diseases and conditions
Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers who are fans of Star Trek will be interested to learn that a real-life “Tricorder” medical diagnostic device may be just around the corner. Officials of the XPRIZE organization recently announced 10 finalists who are competing to build a working Tricorder capable of monitoring multiple vital signs and identifying specific disease states.
Erik Viirre, M.D., Ph.D., Technical and Medical Director for the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, announced the 10 finalists last fall. Their devices may have a disruptive impact on medical laboratories, particularly if they lead to inexpensive, self-diagnostic tools that are capable of immediately running most lab tests.
Launched in January 2012 by the XPRIZE Foundation, which organizes international competitions to advance innovation, this life sciences contest to make the tricorder a reality is offering $10 million (£6m) in prize money. (See Dark Daily, “Pathologists and Clinical Lab Scientists: Design a Modern “Tricorder” and You Could Win $10 Million From the XPRIZE Foundation!,” March 22, 2013.) (more…)
Dec 22, 2014 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
This diagnostic instrument would be preferred by patients and physicians alike because it is noninvasive and provides immediate results
Dermapathologists will be interested to learn about a new handheld, point-of-care (POC) device that images melanoma tumors and enables the in vivo diagnosis of melanoma.
Because this diagnostic technology is noninvasive and provides immediate results, it is likely to be preferred by patients and doctors alike and could thus substantially reduce the volume of skin biopsies referred to dermapathologists and pathology laboratories. (more…)
Dec 17, 2014 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Study was published in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and showed how high-deductible healthcare plans are motivating consumers to use online transparency tools to search for providers that offer greatest value
Do consumers choose less expensive medical laboratories and imaging providers when they can see the prices in advance? The findings of a recently released study suggest that the answer is “yes”—that consumers will shop for the clinical laboratory with the cheapest test prices when they have access to price information!
This is one conclusion from a study of a half million consumers conducted by Castlight, Inc. (NYSE:CSLT), a San Francisco-based company that offers employers an online tool that enables their employees to compare healthcare pricing among their network providers. Researchers at Castlight confirmed that if consumers know the price of laboratory and imaging tests or physician visits in advance, they will choose the less expensive provider. (more…)
