RECENT NEWS

The Western Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland has established the Annual Professor Gerry McKenna Award for staff excellence in medical science.

‘Navigating Quality Standards in Point of Care Testing’ is a day-long seminar hosted by UK NEQAS, taking place in Birmingham on 23 October, 2024.

RNAs may help identify stage II colon cancer patients who could benefit from chemotherapy following surgery. In a newly published study, investigators assess the biomarker potential of RNAs to identify such patients.

Researchers at the University of Zurich (UZH) and the University Hospital Zurich (USZ) have developed a new diagnostic method for cancer patients, a type of liquid biopsy that analyses blood samples rather than organs or tissues.

Beckman Coulter Diagnostics has launched its new DxC 500i integrated clinical chemistry and immunoassay analyser. Ideally suited for satellite and independent laboratories, the DxC 500i offers flexibility, scalability and data commutability with an extensive assay menu.

Professor Sarah Coupland has been elected President of the Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland (PathSoc) following the Society's recent Annual General Meeting in Sheffield.

The new Labour Government has appointed Sir Patrick Vallance FRS FMedSci FRCP HonFREng as Minister of State (Minister for Science). He was previously Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA) from April 2018 to April 2023.

Cepheid has announced that its Xpert HCV molecular test to detect hepatitis C at the point of care has been greenlit for the US market.

Moderna has announced a project award of $176 million through the Rapid Response Partnership Vehicle (RRPV) to accelerate the development of mRNA-based pandemic influenza vaccines.

London pathology services provider Synnovis has recently issued a further update on its efforts to recover and restore services following the cyberattack at the start of June.

Lalita Ramakrishnan, Group Leader in the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology’s (LMB) Cell Biology Division and the University of Cambridge’s Molecular Immunity Unit (housed in the LMB), has been announced as the 2024 recipient of the Robert Koch Prize, in recognition of her pioneering research investigating the molecular mechanisms behind tuberculosis (TB).

Analysing nasal swabs taken during the pandemic, researchers at Yale School of Medicine suggest that the frequent presence of other viruses and bacteria may have helped to protect children from the worst effects of COVID-19 by boosting their immune systems.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), is continuing to work with partners to investigate the recent Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) outbreak. It has confirmed further cases, including two deaths, but numbers of new cases are now decreasing.

A new study describes the outcome of a new approach to testing for Clostridioides difficile, guided by the principles of diagnostic stewardship and how it highlights the benefits of a clearly defined, evidence-based test-ordering process.

Bio-Rad Laboratories has launched Celselect Slides 2.0 to enhance rare cell and circulating tumour cell (CTC) capture. Compatible with Bio-Rad’s Genesis Cell Isolation System, the latest version of Celselect Slides enables the processing of greater volumes of liquid biopsy samples and offers the ability to capture and recover a greater number of CTCs for enumeration or use in downstream applications.

Proscia has established a new partner alliance – named Proscia Ready - to help laboratories grow their use of digital pathology through an increasingly comprehensive approach.

London-based pathology services partnership Synnovis has issued a further update following the recent cyberattack, confirming that patient information published online was stolen from its systems.

Bio-Rad Laboratories has launched four new anti-idiotypic antibodies to the following drugs: atezolizumab (Tecentriq), avelumab (Bavencio), obinutuzumab (Gazyvaro), and ocrelizumab (Ocrevus), extending its range of anti-biotherapeutic antibodies. The company also introduced its anti-monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) biotherapeutic antibody range for bioanalysis.

BIOHIT HealthCare is excited to announce an upcoming webinar, 'Current and future trends in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM)', which will take place on 3 July at 12:30-1:30pm BST.

A low-cost CRISPR-based paper-strip test distinguishes between influenza types and can be reprogrammed to recognise different viruses including H5N1 bird influenza. A recently published paper describes the development of the new test that could allow more patients to find out which type of influenza they have and get the right treatment.