Sep 7, 2016 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Oak Ridge National Laboratory sees potential for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to control disease and assess treatments
What do you get by blending microscopy with mass spectrometry? A new multi-tasking tool for studying disease progression and response to treatments in patients.
Combining these two technologies into a single device could also have uses for clinical laboratory scientists and pathologists. However, much research must be done before such a device is ready to obtain FDA clearance for use in clinical settings by the nation’s medical laboratories.
The new device was created by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tenn. They created an imaging system that supplies microscopy with spatially resolved chemical analyses.
This new development will be of high interest to surgical pathologists who work with microscopes and clinical chemists who currently perform mass spectrometry testing. It shows how one research effort has the potential to bring together two technologies regularly used in laboratory medicine. (more…)
Jul 25, 2016 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
The idea that human beings could be created without biological parents sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but it’s not, and the technology could be available in the not so distant future
It’s not known how many pathologists and clinical chemists were in attendance at a secret meeting that took place in Boston in May, which was organized to investigate the feasibility of building a synthetic human genome.
Nearly 150 scientists, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and ethicists met in a closed-door session at Harvard Medical School to discuss creating a synthetic human genome. Although this meeting was secret, people took notice. The possibility of using a synthetic genome to create human beings—without biological parents—understandably caused concern among the life science communities, the New York Times reported, and the apparent secrecy fueled speculation that ignited controversy, which spread rapidly. (more…)
Jun 24, 2016 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
This low-cost solution opens new doors for low-resource regions and, in many cases, allows operators to rule out malignancy without the need for a pathologist to review biopsies
Rapid development of endoscopic technologies is bringing medical professionals closer to point-of-care pathology than ever before. The goal is to allow physicians to identify diseased or cancerous tissue in situ and reduce or eliminate the need to biopsy tissue for examination by surgical pathologists.
Researchers at Rice University in Houston are developing a high-resolution microendoscope (HRME) that offers the ability to view tissue at a subcellular level. This fiber optic probe would reduce the need to collect the biopsy that is typically sent to anatomic pathologists for analysis.
Measuring 1-mm in diameter, the probe works using the existing accessory channel of the endoscope. Touching it to the surface of the tissue provides real-time in vivo images to the technician at up to 12 frames per second on an accompanying tablet display. Images are enhanced using visual overlays and an algorithm that highlights the nuclei of cells within the field of view. The HRME system is battery powered and fits in a briefcase for easy transport. (more…)
Jun 8, 2016 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will hold hearings to determine whether University of California Berkeley, or Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, should receive patents for new genomic engineering technique
In the race to master gene-editing in ways that will advance genetic medicine and patient care, one of the hottest technologies is CRISPR, which stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. But now a patent fight has the potential to complicate how pathologists and other scientists use this exciting technology.
This dispute over the CRISPR patent—a tool that has been hailed as one of the biggest biotech breakthroughs of the decade—will likely be settled in the coming months by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
The USPTO will be reviewing key patents awarded for what is called CRISPR/Cas9. The technology is already generating novel therapies for diseases, which should create new opportunities for pathologists and medical laboratories. (more…)
Jun 6, 2016 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Utah-based Tute Genomics and UNIConnect will partner with Newborn Screening Ontario to uncover rare but treatable diseases in newborns
In the Canadian province of Ontario, next-generation gene sequencing will soon be part of newborn screening. This development is another confirmation for clinical laboratory managers and pathologists that genetic information from such diagnostic testing is contributing to improvements in clinical care.
Newborn Screening Ontario (NSO) is teaming up with Tute Genomics of Provo, Utah, and UNIConnect of Sandy, Utah, to enhance the province’s testing program for rare but treatable diseases in newborns.
The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is contracting with NSO to offer a next-generation sequencing testing panel and a multiple ligation-dependent probe amplification assay for the diagnostic confirmation of a variety of disorders. (more…)
May 27, 2016 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Understanding the unknown functions of these genes may lead to the creation of new diagnostic tests for clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups
Once again, J. Craig Venter, PhD, is charting new ground in gene sequencing and genomic science. This time his research team has built upon the first synthetic cell they created in 2010 to build a more sophisticated synthetic cell. Their findings from this work may give pathologists and medical laboratory scientists new tools to diagnose disease.
Recently the research team at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) and Synthetic Genomics, Inc. (SGI) published their latest findings. Among the things they learned is that science still does not understand the functions of about a third of the genes required for their synthetic cells to function. (more…)
