A million monkeys on a million microscopes probably couldn’t bang out an accurate WBC differential in a million years, but a lab tech could teach a gibbon to run a chemistry analyzer in about ten minutes. I’m kidding. But the subjective variability of microscopic analysis versus objective reliability of engineered automation is known. WBC ...

Most of us know amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by its other name, Lou Gehrig’s disease. After a recent preliminary trial at Emory University yielded positive results, a phase II trial has been approved by the FDA. An article from Newswise described the first phase of the trial as fairly successful, stating all procedures were “delivered ...

An acronym pulled from the alphabet soup is CQI, or Continuous Quality Improvement. Managers and quality improvement people use this to show that everything can be improved, even processes that work. Continuously trying to improve quality generates incremental improvements; rather than completely redesigning a process, it is changed in response ...

With so many new technologies emerging in recent years, trying to combine multiple advances can be challenging, especially when those advances haven’t been standardized yet. In a recent article from Newswise, doctors and researchers from both the Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School discussed “a new problem in the delivery of personalized ...

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 ...

The introduction of two new hospital facilities in the US marks the beginning of a shift in the healthcare industry. According to a recent news release from Dark Daily, a nationwide change from inpatient- to outpatient-based treatment approaches has resulted in the construction of “bedless hospitals.” In preparation for changes due to the ...

(Editor's Note: This guest blog was written by Frankie Rios, CISSP, VP information security and compliance, GNAX.) Cloud computing and storage is an undeniable migration path and IT strategy. Overall spending on cloud technology is expected to reach an estimated $150 billion annually by 2014, according to a recent Gartner Group study. And ...

A common task we are expected to perform is checking expiration dates on reagents, controls, and other dated materials. Boxes are crowded with different languages, vials are smaller, and eyesight fades with age. I remember vividly the moment when I couldn’t immediately adjust between a crossword puzzle and the wall clock. What if we miss a ...

The handheld testing application has always been something I’ve only ever imagined as a bad plot device in science fiction. For researchers at Columbia University’s The Flu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, it was apparently much, much more than that. A recent news briefing from Dark Daily announced the introduction of a ...

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 ...