RECENT NEWS

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), have developed a coin-sized chip that can directly isolate blood plasma from a tube of blood in just 30 minutes, which is more convenient and user-friendly as compared to the current gold standard, multi-step centrifugation process.

Differences in how young and elderly people’s nasal cells respond to the SARS-CoV-2 virus may explain why children typically experience milder COVID-19 symptoms.

Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) has announced it will award up to US$1 million to diagnostics and health technology company Scout to demonstrate proof-of-concept and feasibility ahead of development of a new point-of-care test – STI Scout.

Abbott's i-STAT TBI cartridge has received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be used with whole blood, allowing doctors to help assess patients with suspected concussion at the patient's bedside and obtain laboratory quality results in 15 minutes.

NHS cancer checks have topped three million in a year for the first time – more than doubling in the last decade. The NHS is committed to diagnosing more cancers at an earlier stage when it is easier to treat. More cancers than ever before are being caught at stages 1 and 2.

Laboratory products manufacturer and supplier Medline has announced that it is now a direct distributor for Epredia, a member of PHC Group. Epredia is a global leader in the anatomical pathology field, providing comprehensive solutions for precision cancer diagnostics and tissue diagnostics.

Thousands of people unknowingly living with hepatitis C are to be identified, diagnosed and cured thanks to major NHS investment in rapid testing technology and an extension of a ground-breaking medicines deal.

Beckman Coulter Diagnostics has announced an expanded DxI 9000 Immunoassay Analyzer menu, with tests for hepatitis B and C viruses - namely Access anti-HCV, Access HBsAg, and Access HBsAg Confirmatory assays - receiving CE marks.

The British In Vitro Diagnostics Association (BIVDA) has released its new three-year strategy, entitled ‘Diagnostics for All’.

All six NHS Trusts within the West Yorkshire Pathology Network are now live on the NPIC digital pathology platform, after Airedale NHS Foundation Trust and Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust recently joined the other four NHS Trusts within the West Yorkshire area, (collectively known as the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts [WYAAT]) and have now gone live.

UK National External Quality Assessment Service (UK NEQAS) is to relocate its Sheffield site to Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park and its state-of-the-art incubation centre, Landing Pad. The move for UK NEQAS will help propel the Park further towards becoming a global centre of excellence for innovation in health, sport and wellbeing.

Roche’s Elecsys pTau217 assay blood test, which is being developed in collaboration with Eli Lilly, has received Breakthrough Device Designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The test aids in identifying amyloid pathology, a key feature of Alzheimer’s disease, and the two firms believe the test could play an important role in improving access to early and accurate Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

Randox Laboratories has announced a new partnership with technology firm Bosch, with the goal of making fast and highly precise diagnostics accessible at the point of care. The two companies will invest around €150 million in joint research, development, and sales activities for new tests for the Vivalytic analysis platform provided by Bosch Healthcare.

Bio-Rad Laboratories has announced a collaboration agreement with Oncocyte, a precision diagnostics company, to develop and commercialise transplant monitoring products using Bio-Rad’s Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR) instruments and reagents.

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust has replaced two legacy laboratory information systems with a single instance of Clinisys WinPath. The trust, which serves a catchment of 800,000 patients in North Cambridgeshire and South Lincolnshire, found itself with two LIMS when it was formed out of the merger of Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals and Hinchingbrooke Health Care in 2017.

In a transformative study an international team of researchers, led by the University of Münster and Department of Neurology at the University Hospital of Münster, Germany, in collaboration with the German Competence Network Multiple Sclerosis (KKNMS), has made a significant breakthrough in the understanding and potential treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS).

Researchers at the University of Oxford, the Francis Crick Institute and University College London have been granted £1.7 million of funding from Cancer Research UK and the CRIS Cancer Foundation to develop a lung cancer vaccine.

Quest Diagnostics and whole genome sequencing (WGS) firm Broad Clinical Labs have announced a research collaboration designed to demonstrate the clinical value of WGS as a first-line genetic test for postnatal diagnosis of developmental delay disorders.

Cepheid’s Xpert HIV-1 Qual XC has been awarded World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification. Inclusion on the prequalification list signifies that Xpert HIV-1 Qual XC meets WHO's stringent performance, quality, safety and reliability standards.

Two expert research teams, one from University College London and the other from Dementias Platform UK at the University of Oxford, will conduct UK-wide clinical trials to identify blood tests to boost dementia diagnosis.