Sep 26, 2014 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Pathologists and clinical laboratory professionals can expect to see new molecular test development as researchers develop new biomarkers in the wake of expanded knowledge of the genome-metabolome-diseasome correlates
One field of science that bears great potential for use in diagnostics and medical laboratory testing involves the human metabolome. Researchers are gaining more understanding of the genetic underpinnings of complex disease and drug response through metabolic pathways.
For example, scientists at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WTSI) in the United Kingdom have linked 145 genetic regions with more than 400 molecules involved in metabolism in human blood, a story in Genetic Engineering News recently reported. The resulting atlas of associations will enable identification of genes that could be targeted in the development of drugs and clinical laboratory test. (more…)
Feb 1, 2013 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Advanced DNA sequencing is poised to provide pathologists with a new tool for the management of infection control in hospitals
This may be a first for medical laboratory medicine. In England, researchers used real-time advanced DNA sequencing to contain an infectious disease outbreak at a hospital. Rapid gene sequencing technology allowed them to bring the outbreak to a quick close. This saved other patients from harm and saved money for the hospital.
Clinical laboratory managers will be interested to learn that this ground-breaking episode occurred at Cambridge University Hospitals with the participation of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge. Researchers from these institutions used insights gained from DNA sequencing to help stop a potentially deadly outbreak of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) at one of the Cambridge hospitals. The journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases published the report. (more…)
