Feb 21, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Management & Operations
This price includes all costs except overhead, but without a high volume of customers, Illumina’s $10-million price for the HiSeq X Ten machine may not be a wise investment
Competition continues to be fierce in the race to the $1,000 whole human genome. Most recently, Illumina announced the availability of its latest gene sequencing system, along with the claim that it can deliver a whole human genome at a cost of just $1,000. But, as most pathologists know, the devil is in the details, since not every Illumina customer is likely to achieve that price point.
When Illumina, a San Diego-based technology company, announced its new HiSeq X Ten genetic-sequencing machine in December, 2013, Illumina CEO Jay T. Flatley claimed the company’s system can deliver “full-coverage human genome sequences for less than $1,000,” down from $500 million 10 years ago. The new system is expected to ship in the first quarter of 2014.
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Feb 17, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Uncategorized
Experts are excited about the swift development of wireless remote monitoring of patients; companies expected to develop sensors that incorporate a wide range of biomarkers
Some experts predict that the era of wireless, remote monitoring of patients is almost upon us. It will require pathologists and medical laboratory professionals to learn a new acronym: MBAN, which stands for medical body area network.
There is keen interest in remote wireless monitoring systems. The concept is to free patients from the hospital bed and allow continuous remote monitoring, regardless of where the patient is located. For this reason, in just a few years and in many local markets, opportunities are likely to be ripe for pathologists and clinical laboratory teams to have a role in managing wireless medical devices that use MBANs. (more…)
Feb 5, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Partners HealthCare and Geisinger Health are among health systems making investments and developing the clinical utility of genome sequencing
Next-generation gene sequencing is making fast inroads among the nation’s largest academic centers and health systems. This is an auspicious development for the clinical laboratory industry. It positions pathologists to play a greater role in clinical care and genetic medicine.
News accounts and published research suggest that mega systems—including Partners HealthCare, Geisinger Health System, Scripps Health, and Medical College of Wisconsin—are among first movers investing in genome-sequencing equipment and assembling the medical expertise necessary to establish genetic-testing programs and help physicians utilize gene sequences where appropriate for patient care. (more…)
Dec 30, 2013 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
New insights about personal genomes will give pathologists and clinical laboratory scientists different ways to use genetic tests in the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of disease
Here is a human genome curve ball for pathologists and clinical laboratory scientists engaged in genetic testing in their medical laboratories. New research indicates that a larger number of humans than was once believed may have more than one genome. This has implications for many medical and health issues.
Until recently, scientists assumed that, as a rule, each individual had a unique genome. Conditions such as mosaicism and chimerism were considered a rarity.
Greater Incidence of Multiple Genomes in a Single Individual (more…)
Dec 18, 2013 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Management & Operations, Uncategorized
Adoption of digital PCR is slow at this time, but pathologists may want to track how researchers use this technology in the new clinical laboratory assays they use
Molecular pathologists will be interested to learn that there is a new contender in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) arena. It is digital PCR, and it has specific advantages over traditional real-time PCR methods.
For example, digital PCR can target specific DNA sequences in just one molecule of DNA. This new tool allows researchers to isolate rare genetic mutations too difficult to segregate with real-time PCR, noted a report from Insight Pharma Reports. (more…)
Dec 13, 2013 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers can expect environmental microbiome detection and monitoring to play an increasingly important role in disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention
For decades, microbiologists and clinical laboratory professionals have prowled the corridors of hospitals to swab physicians’ neckties, the hands of nurses and staff, and various surfaces. These swabs were then cultured to demonstrate how easily infectious microbes can be transmitted in everyday activities.
Now researchers, including microbiologists, are combing the New York City subway system to swab surfaces, collect specimens, and create a map of the urban microbiome. Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City want to use the microbiome to pioneer a new method for city-level pathogen monitoring. (more…)
