ADVANCE Outlook: Lab Professionals : microbiology

3M Release Rapid Detection Test

Amanda Koehler — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:52:00 GMT

3M, St. Paul, MN announced today the introduction of the 3M Rapid Detection RSV Test. R espiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) infects the lungs and breathing passages and is a common cause of bronchitis and pneumonia in children under 1 year. The Rapid Detection...(read more)

Rapid Tests for H1N1

Amanda Koehler — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:47:00 GMT

Here's a great article from The New York Times featuring the lab and H1N1 testing. The story says rapid tests for H1N1 fail to properly detect infections more than half the time. Have you been finding this is true for your laboratory?...(read more)

New Accreditation Program for Labs in Africa

Caitlin Maloney — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:52:00 GMT

The first push for accreditation of Africa's medical laboratories was recently launched by government health officials from 13 African countries, starting a process the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. government believe will strengthen health...(read more)

New Lab Test Helps Predict Kidney Damage

Caitlin Maloney — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:22:00 GMT

A new laboratory test, urine neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin (NGAL), will help predict if patients will develop acute kidney injury (AKI), a study in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN) reported. Another study in JASN also...(read more)

MRSA MRSA Me

Amanda Koehler — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:53:00 GMT

In his ASCLS session,“MRSA MRSA Me—Things Ain’t What They Used to Be!,” Richard B. (Tom) Thomson, Jr. PhD, D(ABMM), Evanston Hospital-Northshore University Health System, Chicago, encouraged attendees to define the MRSA problem in their facility. "In...(read more)

PERFAR and BD Make Progress in Africa

Caitlin Maloney — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:34:00 GMT

The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PERFAR) and Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) have made progress in improving laboratory conditions and skills of lab personnel battling against HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) in sub-Saharan Africa....(read more)

Fighting TB

Kerri Penno — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:02:00 GMT

Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD), Franklin Lakes, NJ; and Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), a Swiss foundation developing, evaluating and accelerating implementation of new diagnostic tools for poverty-related diseases, today announced...(read more)

Preparing for a Bio-Katrina

Matthew T. Patton — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:03:00 GMT

In an interview with Federal News Radio in March, Tara O’Toole, MD, MPH, was asked what she would tell President Obama if she had the chance. Her reply: "There is a possibility, a real possibility, that there could be the equivalent of a bio-Katrina on...(read more)

Going Overboard With MRSA Screening?

Matthew T. Patton — Wed, 20 May 2009 00:48:00 GMT

Could it be hospitals aren't backing down from unreasonable and unsustainable infection control guidelines when aiming to prevent MRSA transmission in healthcare facilities? That's the question pondered by Michael B. Edmond, MD, MPH, MPA, professor of...(read more)

Don't Get Caught Dirty Handed: ASM's Clean Hands Campaign

Matthew T. Patton — Wed, 20 May 2009 00:21:00 GMT

We've heard a lot about washing hands lately, especially during the H1N1 outbreak. And when it comes to washing their hands, Americans say they are getting the message. However, their actions speak otherwise. So sayeth literature from ASM distributed...(read more)

Dispatches From The Reporter's Notebook: ASM's Exhibit Hall

Matthew T. Patton — Wed, 20 May 2009 00:05:00 GMT

During a busy day in the exhibit hall, ADVANCE asked some folks at ASM why they decided to come to the 109th General Meeting in Philadelphia: Leslie Lynch , Shore Memorial Hospital, Somers Point, NJ: "I like the see the up and coming methodology in the...(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)

Pathogen Immunity

Kerri Penno — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:35:00 GMT

One of today's ASM Award Lectures was the Maurice Hilleman Merck Award, presented to Stanley A. Plotkin, Sanofi Pasteur, Doylestown, PA. Maurice Hilleman is known for having developed more than 40 vaccines and is credited with having saved more lives...(read more)

Hive Health

Kerri Penno — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:13:00 GMT

In today's "Advances in New Pathogen Discovery" Colloquium at ASM, Joseph DeRisi, University of California, San Francisco, spoke about viral detection, specifically the ViroChip. In studies, the ViroChip has proven to perform with accuracy at least on...(read more)

Taste of Philadelphia

Kerri Penno — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:45:00 GMT

This year's American Society of Microbiology General Meeting is in Philadelphia, just a few miles away from the ADVANCE home base in King of Prussia, PA. The meeting kicked off yesterday with an opening session focusing on microbes and evolution. This...(read more)