RECENT NEWS

Hundreds of laboratory staff in London are being balloted on strike action over a planned restructure by employer Synnovis, which the Unite union claims is unwanted and damaging.

Roche has announced the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the cobas Malaria test for use on the cobas 6800/8800 Systems. This approved test can aid healthcare professionals in reducing potential risks of patient infection from transfused blood products. The cobas Malaria test provides a highly sensitive and specific solution to help ensure that infected blood units are removed from the blood supply.

Laboratory supplier Sarstedt hosted a two-day educational Transport Symposium at its Leicester base during March. An audience of NHS managers and biomedical scientists were present for a variety of presentations as well as a hands-on preview of the Tempus600 transport system.

Bio-Rad Laboratories has launched new validated antibodies for rare cell and circulating tumour cell (CTC) enumeration. Validated for use with Bio-Rad’s Celselect Slides Enumeration Stain Kits, the antibodies are specific to CTC surface markers to enable the sensitive and specific identification of target cell populations, enhancing the study of tumour heterogeneity and disease progression at various stages.

The British In Vitro Diagnostic Association (BIVDA) has confirmed the appointment of Helen Dent as Chief Executive, following a successful period as Interim Chief Executive. Helen will lead BIVDA in championing the medical diagnostics industry to politicians, policymakers, media and relevant stakeholders and in supporting members to improve patient outcomes.

UK start-up Presymptom Health has raised £1.5m to help accelerate time to market of its AI-driven sepsis and infection tests - with the company aiming to roll-out its technology to the NHS from mid-2025.

A blood test which could help thousands of people receive earlier, more targeted, lung cancer treatments is being trialled by the NHS. The circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) test, which will be offered to 10,000 patients by next March, can identify genetic variants in a tumour through a simple blood sample.

The National Pathology Imaging Co-Operative (NPIC) is re-running its 2023 educational webinar series on digital pathology, ‘Innovation into Practice’.

Innovate UK is pleased to announce the winners of a funding competition to develop new clinical tools for dementia and neurodegeneration. Ten new projects will receive funding for identification, development and commercialisation of biomarker tools and technologies.

Beckman Coulter Life Sciences has launched its new CytoFLEX nano Flow Cytometer – the first purpose-built nanoscale flow cytometer for research use only that enables detection to at least 40 nm, enabling 30-50% more data creation.

Owkin and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) have announced a new five-year research partnership to use artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate the screening and diagnosis of a range of diseases, starting with colorectal cancer.

QDx Pathology Services, an independent anatomical, molecular and clinical pathology laboratory serving medical professionals and facilities throughout the United States, is working with Proscia, a leading provider of digital and computational pathology solutions, to innovate its practice. The laboratory has deployed Proscia’s software to enable its pathologists to work faster and more confidently.

A new collaboration between the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and The Pirbright Institute has been launched to support the development of vaccines against Henipavirus – a genus of viruses including Nipah virus. The research has been funded by the Medical Research Council.

A new mpox vaccine is being tested in the UK, as the virus continues to spread in many parts of the world. The mPower trial is testing the effectiveness of an investigational mRNA vaccine for mpox. The study is delivered by NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) and sponsored by Moderna.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a major global health problem, especially among people with type 2 diabetes. Researchers at the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Helmholtz Munich, and Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (LMU) have identified novel protein biomarkers that are associated with the development of CHD in people with and without diabetes.

An international consortium of researchers specialising in human challenge studies is embarking on a US$57 million project to develop advanced, virus-blocking coronavirus vaccines that could stop SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses from infecting people.

A new study shows Lunit’s AI-powered cancer diagnostic solutions SCOPE HER2 and SCOPE ER/PR significantly improve pathologist concordance and accuracy, paving the way for improved breast cancer molecular subtype analysis for informed decision-making and precision patient care.

End-to-end digital pathology solution provider OptraSCAN has announced the introduction of a combined image management and image storage solution, to enable and simplify the digital transformation of pathology laboratories. The OptraSCAN IMAGEPath image management system is an open platform that can easily integrate with scanners from multiple manufacturers and over 20 different image formats, in addition to being compatible with external third-party AI applications for pathology.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) Hartree Centre and the Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust have announced a strategic partnership to advance artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare across the trust to optimise patient outcomes.

Roche has this week introduced navify Analytics, a new suite of cloud-based solutions that provide actionable insights to optimise operational and financial outcomes in laboratories and point-of-care (POC) settings.