Feb 25, 2013 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
‘National Agenda’ seeks to marshal efforts to sharpen the clinical impact of pathology in the genomics era
Pathologists are being urged to seize the high ground as the unfolding revolutions in genomics and bioinformatics create unprecedented capabilities to more accurately diagnose patients and guide the selection of appropriate therapies.
Two experts in these fields have come together to issue a call to action for the pathology profession, stating that pathologists need to be prepared for the sequencing revolution. “Revolution is not too strong a word; this is not incremental change,” declared Dennis P. Wall, Ph.D. and Peter J. Tonellato, Ph.D., in a recent story published in The Scientist. “The use of whole-genome analysis (WGA) can, should, and will replace many current standard pathology practices of diagnosis and prognosis on which proper therapy and disease management rely,” the co-authors asserted.
Wall is an associate professor and director of Computational Biology at Harvard Medical School (HMS). Tonellato is a professor and director of the Laboratory for Personalized Medicine at HMS. (more…)
Jan 4, 2013 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Goals are to use whole gene sequencing to develop better clinical laboratory assays in support of personalized medicine
Creating new clinical laboratory tests to support personalized medicine is one goal of a unique collaboration recently announced that involves the pathology department at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and GenomeQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:GQ). The two collaborators are expanding a relationship launched several years ago that involved doing whole genome sequencing of tumors.
More specifically, the expanded relationship will be a two-year collaboration to develop whole-genome analysis (WGA) applications for personalized medicine. The move signals pathologists and clinical laboratory managers that first movers are taking steps to address the growing need for clinical genomics informatics infrastructure.
“The plummeting cost of sequencing and the increasing volume of predictive, public studies makes the clinical application of genomics not just a practicality but a healthcare imperative,” declared GenomeQuest CEO Richard Resnick. “We believe that our collaboration with a combined innovation and delivery leader like BIDMC is a major step forward in expanding genomics and its rewards from the bench to the bedside.” (more…)
