ADVANCE Discourse: Lab Knowing Let’s forget about money for a second. I know that can be difficult – what, with all of those pesky adult responsibilities and everything, but bare with me.  If money wasn’t an object, and your physician wanted to order a test that you knew wouldn’t be covered under your insurance, would you get ...

The introduction of new drugs that combat disease and infection at the genetic level has been a landmark breakthrough, both for laboratory science as well as for patient treatment plans. Cell-based therapeutics, on the other hand, stand to become influential in the coming years. A recent story from Newswise reported cell therapy as the next ...

I remember when the Body Worlds Exhibit came to my local museum. I couldn’t believe it -- those were real people. My dad laughed when I told him about it and said, “That’s why you really have to read the fine print when you sign up to be an organ donor.” Being an organ donor, I was horrified. As genetic research continues and breakthroughs are ...

Allow me to introduce you to the most famous cell you’ve never met. Traditionally, when we think of brain cells, we think of neurons -- up until today, I was blissfully unaware that there were even any other types of cells up there. Glial cells are similar to neurons, but they are to neurons as I am to my older sister -- overshadowed. A recent ...

For as long as there have been laboratories, researchers have been working towards the future. When it comes to fighting off disease and infection, the human body is capable of so much -- but sometimes it just needs a little help. The goal is to ensure a future where the body requires as little help as possible. I’ve discussed the prospect of ...

It’s hard enough to work in an environment where there’s some uncertainty—perhaps regarding job security, technology implementations and effects and the like. Today, however, there’s monumental vagueness or doubts on a host of issues directly impacting healthcare, including the Budget Control Act, sustainable growth rates (SGR), bundled payments, ...

An observer such as myself can get pretty excited when talking to experts about genomic sequencing and the secrets it potentially may unlock to individualized expectations of health or disease risk. What was once the realm of science fiction seems to be realized in modern medicine: a real path to better vigilance, risk ...

If you could have your genome sequenced and unlock all of the secrets your DNA holds, would you? I asked that question of Dr. Robert Daber, technical director of Clinical Genomics at the Center for Personalized Diagnostics, and Dr. Jennifer Morrissette, scientific director of the Cytogenics Lab and director of the Center for Personalized ...

At COLA, we’re all part of the same work community. Together we help promote patient safety by promoting lab excellence. Considering that lab testing impacts more than 70 percent of diagnostic decisions, the COLA community’s efforts impact a lot of people. Individually, however, we are all part of two other communities: The lab community in ...

Occasionally, we post a question on our Facebook page that gets a lot of responses. On Thursday, we posted a question that sparked an interesting set of responses. That simple question was, ''If you couldn’t be a laboratorian, would you want to be a nurse?'' Overwhelmingly, the answer was ''NO!'' Here are few of the selected responses thus ...