Jul 16, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
At the proposed $1,000 price tag, Biomeme’ mobile clinical laboratory device has the potential to challenge diagnostic systems used in central laboratories
Another smartphone gadget capable of performing diagnostic laboratory tests is headed for the marketplace, and only time will tell if it proves to be a threat to the in vitro diagnostics industry.
Developers say that, when paired with a smartphone, this diagnostic device is similar to traditional medical laboratory technology 10 times its size. Called Biomeme, it is a system that diagnoses diseases like a clinical laboratory—but is just the size of a can of cola. It can identify DNA signatures of bacteria or viruses in a sample of saliva, blood or urine, according to a story that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer. (more…)
Jul 7, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
This investigation of the fruit fly’s transcriptome—the complete collection of the genome’s RNA—unearthed thousands of new genes, transcripts, and proteins
Scientists have teased another level of information out of the genome. This time, the new insights were developed from studies of the fruit fly’s transcriptome. This knowledge will give pathologists another channel of information that may be useful in developing assays to support more precise diagnosis and therapeutic decisions.
The findings were published in a recent issue of Nature. The study focused on the transcriptome—a complete collection of the genome’s RNA—of the common fruit fly−Drosophila melangogaster. (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 7, 2014 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations, News From Dark Daily
Variability in how tissue is handled from one histopathology laboratory to another greatly affects quality of specimen and accuracy of the pathologist’s diagnosis
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA—Here on the shores of Lake Ontario, pathologists and clinical laboratory professionals gathered last week for a unique conference that focused on quality issues involving how tissue is handled from collection and transport to the histopathology laboratory processing to diagnosis by surgical pathologists.
Your Dark Daily editor was here to participate in the conference and learn from a first-rank panel of speakers. As many long-time readers know, patients, physicians, and health insurers expect increasingly higher levels of accuracy in how lab specimens are handled and greater precision in the resulting diagnosis that is produced by pathologists. Thus, a conference dedicated to tissue specimen integrity and quality is both timely and appropriate. (more…)
Feb 26, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Researchers at Penn State identified 160,000 ‘transcription initiation machines’ throughout the human genome
DNA “dark matter” may have something in common with comedian Rodney Dangerfield, who liked to say, “I don’t get no respect!” As many pathologists know, for years the human exome that has been the focus of most research. This is the 1% of the human genome that contains the genes that produce proteins and do other useful functions.
Meanwhile, the remaining 99% of the human genome—sometimes called “junk DNA” and generally known as dark matter—got relatively little attention from researchers. But that is changing. At Pennsylvania State University, a research team has discovered that coding and noncoding RNA, or genomic dark matter, originates at the same types of locations along the human genome.
(more…)
