RECENT NEWS

An experimental new urine test can reveal if men with early prostate cancer will need aggressive therapy or can be left untreated but monitored, UK researchers say. Current prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood tests cannot do this, meaning many men experience unnecessary worry, investigations and treatment.

The Atellica Solution's revolutionary sample management and short turnaround time (STAT) capabilities provide fast, actionable, reliable procalcitonin (PCT) results that laboratories and clinicians can count upon.

Tecan launched the innovative Spark Cyto plate reader at SLAS Europe 2019, held in Barcelona, Spain, on 26–28 June. The system is the first live-cell plate reader to offer real-time detection and analysis of biological, chemical and physical events – capturing the maximum amount of data from every well, at the same time and under the same conditions.

Alverno Laboratories, one of the largest laboratory networks in the United States, is set to launch ground-breaking digital pathology services from Royal Philips, a global leader in health technology. Once fully implemented by early 2020, Alverno Laboratories, located in north-west Indiana, will operate the single largest installed number of Philips scanners in the world.

Lab Innovations has launched free online advance registration for all visitors. Returning to the NEC, Birmingham, on 30–31 October, Lab Innovations enables laboratory professionals across all sectors to source new products, network with peers and earn CPD points in the free-to-attend conference programme.

Researchers at the University of North Texas (UNT) are using Integra’s VIAFLO 96 electronic pipette to increase the throughput of their enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Luminex and flow cytometry workflows, as well as to improve the reproducibility of their results.

Lab Innovations has announced the launch of a new free networking tool to help visitors and exhibitors set up meetings in advance, so that they can get the most from their visit. Having significantly increased its exhibition floor space for 2019, and with 90% of space already booked, Lab Innovations (30–31 October, NEC Birmingham) will host the broadest array of quality laboratory suppliers and manufacturers in its eight-year history. Building on its reputation as the ideal event for networking and with rising numbers of visitors and exhibitors, Lab Innovations will now feature the Lab Connect online meeting planner to ensure productive B2B matchmaking.

Oxford Gene Technology (OGT) has celebrated the opening of its new facility in Cambridge, UK. The opening ceremony, which took place on 3 June at the company’s new premises on the prestigious Cambridge Science Park, was attended by the Department for International Trade (DIT) and local media as well as top-level representatives from OGT and its parent company, Sysmex Corporation. Pictured are John Anson (CEO, OGT) and Kaoru Asano (member of the Managing Board and Senior Executive Officer, Sysmex).

As a leader in optics for 100 years, Olympus has broken down barriers to imaging quality with the launch of its next-generation objectives. The breakthrough polishing technique enables the company to produce ultrathin lenses that overcome the traditional trade-off between numerical aperture (NA), flatness and chromatic correction – enabling all three parameters to be significantly improved.

International medical imaging IT and cybersecurity company Sectra is pictured signing a five-year contract with North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust for the delivery of a regional digital pathology solution to the Northern Cancer Alliance. The solution will span the 10 separate trusts of the consortium and aims to improve cancer care workflows through enabling pathologists to instantly access and share images and information between departments and locations.

The 27th Heads of University Centres of Biomedical Sciences (HUCBMS; www.hucbms.org) Annual Conference (HUCBMS 2019) will take place on Tuesday 3 – Wednesday 4 September at the Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin). The conference is relevant to all delegates with an interest in policy and practice developments in higher education and research.

HORIBA UK, Medical has announced the go live of the first multi-site installation of its new HELO high-throughput fully automated haematology platform within the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. The new system is already delivering laboratory efficiencies across Cardiff in line with NHS requirements through the next-generation haematology analysers installed at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) and University Hospital, Llandough. Both sites are fully UKAS accredited to ISO 15189 and networked together by a single virtual server to facilitate highly efficient and secure cross-city working.

Since the discovery of the first antibiotic more than 70 years ago, antimicrobial drugs have treated bacterial infections successfully. However, antibiotics have been widely prescribed as a first-line treatment of infections, without always fully understanding and identifying their underlying cause. Overuse of antibiotics has resulted in multidrug-resistant organisms, making antibiotics less and less effective. A simple case of routine bacterial infection can then lead to a medical emergency, in the absence of effective drugs for treatment.

Faecal testing plays an important role not only in the diagnosis of a wide range of clinical conditions, ranging from mild gastroenteritis to inflammatory bowel disease, but also a key role in potentially avoiding unnecessary invasive and costly diagnostic procedures. Furthermore, effective containment of infectious pathogens often requires rapid result turnaround in order to avoid costly ward outbreaks and closures.

EKF Diagnostics has announced details of the highly successful use of its US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-cleared DiaSpect Tm (Consult Hb in the USA) point-of-care haemoglobin analyser to study iron-deficient anaemia in a remote region of Ghana, West Africa.

At this year’s recent World Malaria Day event, the non-profit health organisation PATH announced a $4.3 million technology contribution to the Visualise No Malaria project over the next three years. It will build on the success that the project has achieved using data visualisation to prevent malaria and target aid in Zambia since 2015, and apply those learnings and processes to help protect an estimated 60 million at-risk people in neighbouring countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Cherwell Laboratories, a specialist in cleanroom microbiology solutions for the pharmaceutical, healthcare and related industries, attended the Cleanroom Technology Conference last month. It offered expert knowledge and demonstrated its comprehensive range of specialist environmental monitoring and process validation products specifically developed for the management of controlled environments and processes.

The Annual Scientific Conference of the British Society for Microbial Technology, held recently in London, offered delegates a high-class programme and access to some of the leading commercial suppliers supporting microbiology.

As Head of Scientific Training at Health Services Laboratories, Wendy Leversuch consider training to be crucial to pathology. Training is often the solution to so many challenges within the laboratory; it fits into recruitment and retention strategies, career progression, CPD, and at its core it ensures our workforce is highly skilled and able to deliver a high-quality service.

SelectScience has presented Integra Biosciences with the prestigious Reviewers’ Choice Life Sciences Company of the Year award. Integra was chosen in recognition of the quantity of positive feedback it has received from customers sharing their opinions on the SelectScience website over the past year.