Feb 27, 2015 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
Demand for a rapid, accurate diagnostic solution to combat Ebola is motivating research teams in many countries to develop solutions that can be put to immediate use
In West Africa, the outbreak of Ebola in several countries motivated researchers in Germany to develop a fast, accurate, and inexpensive test that could be performed in patient care settings without the need for a centralized medical laboratory.
In these West African countries, lack of electricity and reliable cold storage or diagnostic equipment handicaps clinical laboratory technicians who are testing patients for the Ebola virus. A new test developed by researchers at the German Primate Center (DPZ) in Göttingen, Germany, cuts the time to answer an Ebola diagnosis to just 15 minutes. It requires no electricity and is portable. Previously, the fastest Ebola diagnostics test took three hours to get results and required transporting samples to often-distant medical laboratories. (more…)
Dec 7, 2009 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Canadian scientist steals specimens, caught by U.S. Customs agent at the border
Laboratories are invariably out of the public eye—until there is a problem. In Canada, The Canadian Press reported earlier this year that audits had uncovered serious flaws in the tracking and accountability of dangerous pathogen specimens at federal laboratories. In response, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) called for increased security measures governing bio-safety at government laboratories.
These problems were identified at the nation’s National Microbiology Laboratory, located in Winnipeg. Earlier in the year, this lab played the lead role in testing swine flu (Novel A/H1N1) samples and mapped the progression of this flu strain from Mexico to Canada. Other labs visited and found lacking in full protection of pathogen specimens included the Laboratory for Foodborne Zoonoses in Guelph, Ontario, and federal satellite labs in Alberta and Quebec.
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