News • Total antibody test
Siemens Healthineers to expand SARS-CoV-2 testing
Siemens Healthineers announced it is expanding its infectious disease testing capabilities to aid in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article • Paradigm shift for point-of-Care-Testing
IT security of POCT devices – not everything is picture-perfect
Until recently, the major challenges surrounding Point-of-Care-testing (POCT) concerned the quality of the results and improving the reagents and the procedures in order to optimise patient care. In the modern clinical environment, however, IT security of POCT devices is becoming increasingly important, in Germany also due to new industry-specific safety standards under the Act on the Federal…
Article • Seeking an ideal lab life
New and old challenges in laboratory medicine
The Central Laboratory at the Medical University Hanover, Germany, is prepared to handle virtually any clinical chemistry task, from a routine test to the most complex analysis. Equipped with state-of-the-art technology and thanks to a high degree of automation, the team can process more than 3,000 specimens, mostly blood and urine, in a single day. Professor Ralf Lichtinghagen, European…
Article • Tools for practitioners
Computational pathology: Heading for personalised medicine
Computational pathology has increased applications for diagnosis, prediction of prognosis and therapy response, facilitating the movement of healthcare towards personalised medicine. Coupled with deep learning, such tools are ever more efficient and robust within research and clinical settings. The growing role of computational pathology was highlighted by Professor Andrew Janowczyk at the…
News • The Art of Science
Olympus announced Global Image of the Year Award Winners
Olympus has announced the winners of its first Global Image of the Year Life Science Light Microscopy Award, a competition that recognizes the best in life science imaging worldwide.
News • ultrasensitive detector
New ‘saliva test’ to instantly detect coronavirus with lasers
European photonics scientists are developing an ultrasensitive laser sensor that detects coronavirus at the earliest point of infection from a saliva or nasal swab in minutes.
News • Digital pathology
COVID-19: Inspirata launches remote pathology resource
Hamamatsu and KiKo Knowledge Hub Join Inspirata’s Initiative to Offer Free Remote Pathology Solution for Healthcare Institutions Affected by COVID-19. Inspirata gains strategic support in its initiative to allow pathology departments across the world to offer work-from-home opportunities for their pathologists during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
Article • Breath analysis to aid diagnoses
Breathomics: far more than hot air
In diagnostics, it sometimes makes sense to follow your nose. During the Labmed Forum at Medica, Dr Beniam Ghebremedhin and Dr Simona Cristescu discussed the diagnostic potential of breathomics – the analysis of a patient’s exhaled air for disease indicators.
News • Volunteering against the coronavirus
Scientists on Standby portal to support COVID-19 testing recruitment
Scientists on Standby has been rapidly conceptualised and launched in response to the COVID-19 crisis and in anticipation of the increasing pressure on UK diagnostic testing laboratories and facilities in the coming weeks and months. The portal enables scientists with relevant skills and experience to volunteer their time, expertise and support for COVID-19 screening and testing.
News • IgM/IgG identification
Coronavirus antibody test in development
In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Beckman Coulter announced that it is developing assays to identify IgM and IgG antibodies to the coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2. The assays will be designed for use on any of its high-throughput Access family of immunoassay systems, including the Access 2 and DxI series installed globally. Research has shown that after infection with SARS-CoV-2, viral…
News • Blood gas testing
Aiding COVID-19 efforts: FDA clearance for blood gas analyzer
Siemens Healthineers announced that its latest critical care testing solution, the RapidPoint 500e Blood Gas Analyzer, has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and is now available in the U.S., Europe and countries requiring the CE mark. The analyzer generates blood gas, electrolyte, metabolite, CO-oximetry, and neonatal bilirubin results, which are used to…
News • COVID-19 diagnostics
Corona 'pool testing' increases worldwide capacities many times over
Researchers at the German Red Cross Blood Donor Service in Frankfurt headed by Professor Erhard Seifried, and the Institute for Medical Virology at the University Hospital Frankfurt at Goethe University headed by Professor Sandra Ciesek succeeded in developing a procedure that makes it possible to immediately and dramatically increase worldwide testing capacities for detecting SARS-CoV-2.
News • Oncology breakthrough
Blood test detects 50+ cancer types, often before symptoms show
Researchers have developed the first blood test that can accurately detect more than 50 types of cancer and identify in which tissue the cancer originated, often before there are any clinical signs or symptoms of the disease. In a paper published in the leading cancer journal Annals of Oncology, the researchers show that the test, which could eventually be used in national cancer screening…
News • Microbiological big data analysis
Building a 'Microbiome Search Engine'
Big data makes big promises when it comes to providing insights into human behavior and health. The problem is how to harness the information it provides in an efficient manner. An international team of researchers has proposed a microbiome search-based method, via Microbiome Search Engine (MSE), to analyze the wealth of available health data to detect and diagnose human diseases. They published…
News • Coronavirus disease diagnostics
Emergency Use Authorization for COVID-19 test
French in vitro diagnostics company bioMérieux announced that its subsidiary, BioFire Defense, has received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of its BioFire COVID-19 test for use in CLIA moderate and high complexity clinical laboratories to detect the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The test detects SARS-CoV-2 in approximately 45 minutes from a…
News • COVID-19 status
Whole genome sequencing to map coronavirus spread
The Government and the UK’s Chief Scientific Adviser have backed the UK’s leading clinicians and scientists to map how COVID-19 spreads and behaves by using whole genome sequencing. Through a £20 million investment, the consortium will look for breakthroughs that help the UK respond to this and future pandemics, and save lives. COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium - comprised of the NHS, Public…
Video • Coronavirus in laboratory medicine
Video: COVID-19 at a glance
To provide reliable information about the coronavirus disease COVID-19, Professor Giuseppe Lippi, Director of the Laboratory for Clinical Chemistry and Hematology at the University Hospital of Verona, Italy, gives an overview on the current state of scientific knowledge on COVID-19 and the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The video was provided by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC), who…
News • Understanding COVID-19
Why children are vital to slowing the coronavirus pandemic
Though the coronavirus disease COVID-19 so far appears to be largely sparing children, researchers are cautioning that it is critical to understand how the virus affects kids to model the pandemic accurately, limit the disease’s spread and ensure the youngest patients get the care they need. The warning comes from Steven L. Zeichner, MD, PhD, the head of UVA Health’s Division of Pediatric…
Sponsored • Endoscope drying
Empowering Reprocessing Staff: Improving Patient Safety
Human factor aspects of reprocessing can never be completely avoided yet staff can be empowered to reduce the risk of infection. This was an important conclusion established at a multidisciplinary expert panel held at Pentax Medical’s R&D Center, discussing infection risk mitigation in endoscopy. This panel of experts, consisting of physicians, nurses, microbiologists, infection control…
News • Smart algorithm
Automated analysis of whole brain vasculature
Diseases of the brain are often associated with typical vascular changes. Now, scientists at LMU University Hospital Munich, Helmholtz Research Centre for Environmental Health and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have come up with a technique for visualising the structures of all the brain's blood vessels – right down to the finest capillaries – including any pathological changes. So…
News • RT-PCR for COVID-19
First of 3 diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus available
Biotechnology company bioMérieux, a world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics, is announcing the forthcoming launch of 3 different tests to address the COVID-19 epidemic and to meet the different needs of physicians and health authorities in the fight against this emerging infectious disease. bioMérieux has finalized the development of the SARS-CoV-2 R-Gene test. This real-time PCR test…
News • Improved grip and comfort
New cap design for capillary blood collection tubes
The MiniCollect Capillary Blood Collection System launched by Greiner Bio-One in 2016, has an improved cap on all its blood collection tubes. The new version, designed for easier opening, has an increased number of ridges that are also deeper to improve grip and user comfort. The cap rim also overlaps the top of the tube to augment grip and ease opening. The capillary blood collection tubes offer…
News • Pandemic prevention
German lab developed coronavirus detection method
Investigators at Hannover Medical School (MHH) in Germany have developed a molecular assay for detecting the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (previously 2019-nCoV) on the automated Panther Fusion system by Hologic. The preclinical assay is described online in the Journal of Clinical Virology. “Rapid diagnosis is critical to combatting the spread of pandemics, and the Panther Fusion system is well…
Article • Lab technician shortage
Addressing the critical lack of skilled lab workers
The UK and Europe are facing a serious lab skills shortage over the next decade with medical laboratories among the worst affected. An ageing population and skilled operators retiring without being replaced by a new generation of lab technicians is at the core of a critical lack of skilled lab workers, with it taking 5-10 years for a technician to become fully competent and an expert in their…
Article • Blood test & AI power
Early brain tumour detection – within minutes
A simple blood test coupled with artificial intelligence (AI) analysis could help spot the signs of a brain tumour sooner in patients. Brain tumour diagnosis is difficult: patients often see their family doctor (GP) several times before referral for a scan. However, research presented at the 2019 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference in Glasgow last November suggests the…
