Jun 4, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations
Achievement at University of Chicago may help clinical laboratories analyze large quantities of genomic data much faster than ever before, thus shortening the time required to produce a diagnostic result
It’s a breakthrough in the time required to analyze data from whole human genome sequencing. Researchers at the University of Chicago have successfully demonstrated that genome analysis can be radically accelerated.
This could be a big deal for pathologists and clinical laboratory scientists. That’s because a faster time-to-answer from gene sequencing would increase its diagnostic and therapeutic value to clinicians.
Faster and more accurate analysis of genomic data holds the promise of advances in patient management and greater understanding of the genetic causes of risk and disease. This could mean expanded opportunities for pathologists to engage with clinicians in the use of genomic data to inform diagnosis, choice of treatment, and disease management. (more…)
Jun 2, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Real-time data feeds give managers a view on turnaround time, physician ordering patterns, staffing levels, workload, specimen quality, and instrument performance
Financial pressures are intensifying at the nation’s clinical laboratories. This is particularly true of the labs serving hospitals and health systems. Declining inpatient volume and less revenue per inpatient admission are reasons why hospital lab budgets are shrinking.
These trends mean clinical lab administrators and pathologists are being asked to do more with less. To meet this challenge, many lab organizations are acquiring real-time analysis tools and management dashboard systems to help managers identify opportunities to slash lab expenses, while boosting productivity and client satisfaction. (more…)
May 14, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
More precise diagnoses will encourage pathologists and clinical laboratory professionals to consider using exome sequencing for clinical diagnostic purposes
Having sequenced the exomes of 150 patients to diagnose unknown disorders over the past year, physicians at Columbia University (CU) used that information to make decisive diagnoses in one-third of the cases. It is evidence from one of the nation’s pioneering gene-sequencing programs that such data can improve how physicians identify disease.
Findings from Exome Sequencing Program Noteworthy for Pathologists
Pathologists will find it noteworthy that some of the patients in the exome-sequencing program had been tracked for years at CU without a definitive diagnosis. This is why clinicians at the academic center in New York City see value in exome sequencing for selected patients.
For more than a year, doctors at Columbia University have tested the exome’s capability to provide a correct diagnosis for patients with suspected genetic disorders of unknown origins. The primary goal of the program is to prove that sequencing the exomes of these patients is both clinically useful and cost effective in guiding physicians to a correct diagnosis. (more…)
May 9, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Big Data will play major role as Venter’s team sets out to build world’s largest database of human genotypes, microbiomes and phenotypes
For the second time in recent months, another prominent figure has declared his intention to crack the code of human aging. This time it is scientist and entrepreneur J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., known for his role in sequencing the first whole human genome.
Venter will pursue this goal through a brand new company he launched, called Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI), based in La Jolla, California.
Human Longevity, Inc. Will Compete Against Calico
This is a noteworthy development. Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers already know Venter’s competition in this race is a company called Calico that was founded by several entrepreneurs linked to Google. (more…)
Apr 25, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
The discovery of dual-purpose condons, called ‘duons’ opens the door to creation of more precise diagnostic and medical laboratory tests, as well as better treatment choices
New insights into the human genome have led to the discovery of a second “code” or “language” within human DNA. Pathologists performing genetic testing will be particularly interested in the implications of this discovery, which the researchers have dubbed “duons.”
It was a research team at the University of Washington (UW) that discovered evidence of a second type of DNA code overlying the protein code that controls transcription factors (TFs). TFs regulate flow of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, which manages the synthesis of proteins described by the DNA. (more…)
Apr 23, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Findings may help physicians tailor cervical cancer therapies to specific gene mutations and improve the accuracy of diagnostic screening tests for this disease
New scientific knowledge about the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the growth of cervical cancer is creating excitement within the medical community. Among other things, these findings could encourage more widespread vaccination against HPV. That in turn would lead to reduced Pap smear testing by pathology laboratories over time.
For these reasons, cytopathologists and cytotechnologists will be particularly interested in the research findings that were published as a first-ever, international genomic study of cervical cancer, which was published online December 25, 2013, at Nature.com. Researchers discovered that the location where HPV integrates itself into the human genome, is where it causes amplified gene expression that promotes and elevates mutated gene activity that may cause cervical cancer to develop. (more…)
