ADVANCE Outlook: Lab Professionals : Technology

AMP Starts on Positive Note

Matthew T. Patton — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:14:00 GMT

KISSIMMEE, FL -- Christmas decorations next to palm trees are a fun treat for your Philadelphia-based reporter at the Gaylord Palms Convention Center in Kissimmee, FL, where opening remarks for the 15th Annual Meeting of the Association for Molecular...(read more)

Biotest and Premier Announce Partnership

Amanda Koehler — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:24:00 GMT

Biotest Diagnostics Corp., Rockaway, NJ, announced a multi-year agreement with Premier Purchasing Partners L.P., the group purchasing unit of Premier Inc., Charlotte, NC, for its advanced serology solutions, including traditional blood bank reagents,...(read more)

Abbott Acquires Solvay

Kerri Penno — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:06:00 GMT

Abbott, Abbott Park, IL, has announced a $6.6 billion definitive agreement to acquire Solvay's pharmaceuticals business and full global rights to the fenofibrate franchise. The acquisition will provide Abbott with a large and complementary portfolio of...(read more)

Test Helps Tailor Therapy

Amanda Koehler — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:38:00 GMT

The Journal of Clinical Oncology recently released study results from the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. In this study, researchers found the use of a blood test helped doctors tailor therapy to metastic...(read more)

New Strips From Quantimetrix

Kerri Penno — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:43:00 GMT

Quantimetrix Corp., Redondo Beach, CA, a company specializing in liquid quality control and urinalysis, has announced several newly added urine reagent strip values to its Dipper, Dropper, Dropper Plus and Dip&Spin inserts. Values for Accutest, Accustrip,...(read more)

Company Honored

Kerri Penno — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:13:00 GMT

Medical Precision Plastics Inc., Warminster, PA, an ISO-certified custom plastic extruded tubes manufacturer, has received an Export Achievement Certificate award from the United States Department of Commerce. Medical Precision Plastics has also received...(read more)

FDA Clears Vermillion's OVA1

Kerri Penno — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:00:00 GMT

The FDA has cleared Vermillion Inc.'s (Fremont, CA) OVA1 test to help detect ovarian cancer in pelvic masses requiring surgery. OVA1 identifies women who will benefit from referral to a gynecological oncologist for surgery, despite negative results from...(read more)

Merger Alert

Kerri Penno — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:55:00 GMT

ViraCor Laboratories, which specializes in molecular diagnostic testing for infectious diseases; and IBT Laboratories, a clinical-diagnostics and biomedical-research laboratory specializing in immunology and allergy assays, today announced the companies...(read more)

Data Presented on VITROS Systems

Kerri Penno — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:41:00 GMT

At the 18th IFCC-EFCC European Congress of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, data will be presented on Ortho Clinical Diagnostics' two in vitro diagnostic systems recently introduced to the market. The award winning VITROS 5600 Integrated System...(read more)

Technology Transfer

Kerri Penno — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:44:00 GMT

This afternoon, students and other ASM attendees were invited to a career options symposium, where three presenters offered information on three different microbiology career paths: technology transfer, clinical microbiology and microbiology in the military....(read more)

Pancreatobiliary Tract

Kerri Penno — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:56:00 GMT

Barbara A. Centeno, MD, senior member and director of cytopathology, Moffitt Cancer Cente; and professor, University of South Florida College of Medicine, kicked off the general session with a discussion of diagnostic cytology of the exocrine pancreatobiliary...(read more)

Small World

Kerri Penno — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:50:00 GMT

You have until Apr. 30 to submit images taken through the light microscope for consideration in the 35th Annual Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition. Nikon Small World celebrates the world's best photomicrographers who showcase advanced scientific...(read more)

Tweeting Results

Amanda Koehler — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:48:00 GMT

This weekend I attended HealthCamp Philadelphia , an open forum, barcamp-style conference on healthcare and social media. This was the first type of gathering in the Philadelphia region, although there are other HealthCamps across the country. Phil Baumann,...(read more)

Rightful Place

Kerri Penno — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:36:00 GMT

"We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise healthcare's quality and lower its cost."

President Barack Obama made this promise just 3 days ago during his inauguration address and, as with his plans to examine spending and realign military actions in Guantanamo Bay and Iraq, we're already seeing results.

Today, the FDA cleared a human clinical trial of embryonic stem cell based therapy in patients with acute spinal injury.

Geron Corp., Menlo Park, CA, received approval of its Investigational New Drug application for GRNOPC1. The company will initiate a phase 1 multi-center trial to establish the drug's safety in patients with complete American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) grade A subacute thoracic spinal cord injuries.

"This marks the beginning of what is potentially a new chapter in medical therapeutics--one that reaches beyond pills to a new level of healing: the restoration of organ and tissue function achieved by the injection of healthy replacement cells," said Thomas Okarma, PhD, MD, Geron's president and CEO.

"The ultimate goal for the use of GRNOPC1 is to achieve restoration of spinal cord function by the injection of hESC-derived oligodendrocyte progenitor cells directly into the lesion site of the patient's injured spinal cord."

The stem cells are derived from the H1 human embryonic stem cell line, created before Aug. 9, 2001, when former President Bush banned government funding for research using embryonic stem cells.

If successful, Geron plans to seek FDA approval to extend the study to increase the dose of GRNOPC1, enroll subjects with complete cervical injuries and expand the trial to include patients with severe incomplete (ASIA grade B or C) injuries to enable access to the therapy for a broader population.

Free Webinar Tomorrow

Amanda Koehler — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:44:00 GMT

We received the following e-mail from Swisslog:

Swisslog presents Free Webinar to Clinical Laboratory Professionals featuring Pneumatic Tube System Product Manager, John Kennedy

Swisslog Healthcare Solutions (Denver, CO), a provider of hospital material transport and pharmacy automation systems in more than 2,000 hospitals and pharmacies throughout North America, will host “Mission Swisslog ’08”, a free webinar for clinical laboratory professionals on May 1, 2008 at 3 p.m. EST (12 p.m. PDT, 1 p.m. MDT or 2 p.m. CDT). Swisslog’s Pneumatic Tube System Product Manager, John Kennedy, will be presenting the latest innovations in pneumatic tube systems. Webinar attendees who complete the short survey after the presentation will receive a free flash drive and be entered into a grand prize drawing for a digital photo orb. This webinar is in lieu of a presentation planned for CLMA's ThinkLab '08, which was cancelled this year. Attendees may log on to the 30-minute live webinar at http://www.instantpresenter.com/missionswisslog1.

To learn more, visit http://www.swisslog.com/hcs-press-release-clma-webinar.pdf.