Clinical Lab Chat

In this episode of Clinical Lab Chat, CLP’s Director of Business Intelligence, Chris Wolski, discusses the how and why of making precise clinical diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases with Russ Lebovitz, MD, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Amprion.

Among the topics they discuss:

• The critical importance of making accurate diagnoses of neurodegenerative diseases
• Why alpha-synuclein is an accurate biomarker for a number of degenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s
• How adding neurodegenerative testing to the routine diagnostic menu would benefit patients and their caregivers
• Why we’re entering a neurological healthcare “golden age”

In this episode of Clinical Lab Chat, CLP Director of Business Intelligence Chris Wolski engages in a wide-ranging discussion with Peggy Lillis Foundation CEO and founder Christian Lillis about the organization’s efforts to raise awareness of C diff. Among the topics they discuss:

• Why C diff is difficult to diagnose
• How Peggy Lillis is engaging with the public, scientific community, and legislators to improve understanding, diagnostics, and treatment of this increasingly common disease
• The parallels of these awareness efforts with other public health education efforts
• How laboratorians can help their organizations develop workflows to avoid under- and over-testing for C diff.

In this episode of Clinical Lab Chat, Jeff Andrews, MD, FRCSC, BD’s VP of Global Medical Affairs for Diagnostic Solutions, makes a return visit to the studio for a conversation with CLP’s director of business intelligence, Chris Wolski, about BD and MD Anderson’s collaboration on HPV sample self-collection study. 

Among the topics they cover:

• How self-collection aids in the fight against cervical cancer
• The importance of reaching underserved communities
• How MD Anderson’s program is shining a light on the need for sampling options in the U.S. and across the world
• The business benefits self-collection brings to labs
• The impact self-collection will have in the near- and long-term

In this episode of Clinical Lab Chat, Director of Business Intelligence Chris Wolski interviews Jeff Andrews, MD, FRCSC, a board-certified gynecologist and vice president of Global Medical Affairs for Diagnostic Solutions at BD, what HPV sample self-collection means for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of HPV and cervical cancer.

Among the topics they cover in this wide-ranging interview:

• How HPV sample self-collection will improve testing and treatment access.
• The importance of sample integrity.
• The larger public health implications of making HPV and cervical cancer screening routine and accessible.
• The findings of a recent UN General Assembly meeting about HPV diagnosis and treatment.
• What it’s going to take to make cervical cancer a thing of the past.

In this edition of Clinical Lab Chat, Director of Business Intelligence Chris Wolski discusses with Courtney Noah, PhD, VP of Scientific Affairs at BioIVT, how blood-based biofluid testing is poised to revolutionize cancer diagnostics.

Among the topics they dig into are:

• The benefits of blood-based biofluid testing over traditional, more invasive methods.
• How biofluid testing saves money and improves access for patients.
• How labs can add blood-based biofluid testing onto their diagnostic menus.
• The importance of proper sample collection.
• The renaissance in the use of blood-based biomarkers in diagnostic testing.

In this episode of Clinical Lab Chat, CLP’s director of business intelligence, Chris Wolski, discusses how point-of-care testing improves access to both diagnostics and treatment with Seth Egan, co-founder of and chief commercialization officer for Co-Diagnostics.

Among the topics they cover in their wide-ranging conversation:

• How and why point-of-care testing improves both diagnostic and treatment access.
• The key equation of simplicity, cost, and turnaround time (TAT) as the means of providing point-of-care testing.
• The rationale behind the menu of tests Co-Diagnostics is developing.
• The role of clinical labs in point-of-care testing continuum.
• The future of point-of-care testing.

 Further listening: How You Can Harness AI in Your Laboratory

In this edition of Clinical Lab Chat, CLP’s director of business intelligence, Chris Wolski, interviews Nathan Montgomery, MD, PhD, vice president of medical services at NeoGenomics, about how AI will transform laboratory practices including:

• The role AI plays in eliminating mundane tasks in the lab, making workflows more efficient.
• The best practices to follow when implementing AI in your clinical laboratory.
• How AI is transforming the digital pathology landscape.
• Why and how regulation needs to be part of the conversation about AI in clinical laboratories and throughout the entire medical enterprise.
• How AI will evolve in labs over the next 5 to 10 years.

In this edition of Clinical Lab Chat, CLP’s Director of Business Intelligence, Chris Wolski, interviews Alessio Travaglia, PhD, PMP, director, Translational Science, Neuroscience, at the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH).

The wide-ranging interview tackles all aspects of Alzheimer’s testing and treatment, including:

• Why traditional methods of Alzheimer’s testing are expensive, invasive, and limit access.
• The benefits of blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
• How better diagnostics will benefit patients.
• Why we’re on the cusp of a new golden age of neurology
• How more biomarkers fuel not only better diagnostics but better treatments.

In this wide-ranging episode of Clinical Lab Chat, CLP’s director of business intelligence, Chris Wolski, discusses the hows and whys of keeping kids engaged in science with Natalie Kuldell, executive director of BioBuilder (biobuilder.org), a 501c3 non-profit designed to inspire kids and help teachers and professionals keep students interested in science in school and beyond. Kuldell, who was named as a STEM trailblazer in 2020, is also a member of the MIT faculty. 

Among the topics discussed in this episode:

• How to foster and sustain a love of science throughout a kid’s educational journey
• How important parents, teachers, and professionals are to sustaining scientific interest
• How laboratorians can directly influence students to pursue a laboratory or allied career
• The benefits to society as a whole having an scientifically knowledgeable citizenry

In this episode of Clinical Lab Chat, Director of Business Intelligence Chris Wolski presents Jeremy Stackawitz, CEO of Senzo, a challenge—is it possible to create a “perfect” diagnostic test? Using the WHO’s A.S.S.U.R.E.D. criteria, Stackawitz discusses:

• The operating premise of the criteria
• How testing is evolving to provide more point-of-care options
• How Senzo is using the A.S.S.U.R.E.D. criteria to develop tests
• What the next few decades will look like in meeting the criteria

And, yes, Stackawitz does answer the question—tune in to find out what it is.

In a shift from talking about clinical diagnostics, this episode of Clinical Lab Chat focuses on how laboratory listeners can manage stress. With the help of Brent Franson, founder and CEO of Most Days, CLP’s director of business intelligence, Chris Wolski, discusses ways you can manage stress, including:

• Making the “little things”: sleep, exercise, and diet good habits.
• Why taking a hard look at the Big Things—work, relationships, and where you live—will help you get to the root cause and minimize stress
• Two practical steps laboratorians and pathologists can take to manage the regular stress of their stressful jobs.
• The first step you can take to prepare you to address the Big Things in your life

After being declared eradicated in the U.S. in 2000, measles has been making a comeback in recent years—the current caseload equals the entire number of cases in 2023. In this wide-ranging discussion, CLP’s director of business intelligence, Chris Wolski, and Rodney Rohde, PhD, Regents’ Professor in the Texas State University System, a University Distinguished Professor and Chair for the Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) Program in the College of Health Professions at Texas State University, discuss:

• The causes of the measles outbreak
• Why measles should be taken seriously by the public
• The tension between individual rights and public health
• How and why measles is diagnosed
• The long-term effects of measles
• How laboratory professionals can be advocates for good health information

In this episode of Clinical Lab Chat, CLP’s director of business intelligence, Chris Wolski, sits down with OpentronsCEO Jonathan Brennan-Badal to discuss all things robotic. In their wide-ranging discussion, they touch on:

• The trends in clinical laboratory robots
• How to make a use case for adding robots to your lab
• How to plan for automation
• The challenges with laboratory robotics
• What to expect in the next 5 to 10 years

In this episode of Clinical Lab Chat, CLP Director of Business Intelligence Chris Wolski interviews BD’s Bridget Bagnato about the company’s new MiniDraw technology, and how it is delivering on the promise of Theranos’ failed technology, what it means for access, and how it could be a major paradigm shift in the way patients’ blood specimens are collected and the form in which labs receive them. 

In the latest edition of Clinical Lab Chat, CLP’s Director of Business Intelligence, Chris Wolski, interviews Sara Naseri, MD, co-founder and CEO of women’s health company, Qvin (qvin.com), about the Q-Pad, an FDA-cleared menstrual pad designed to collect blood to be processed for diagnostic purposes. In this wide-ranging discussion, Naseri and Wolski discuss how she came up with this unique, out-of-the-box idea; how the company plans to overcome the taboos associated with menstruation; how the Q-pad will improve access to health care; and the company’s plans for the future.

In this episode of Clinical Lab Chat, CLP’s Director of Business Intelligence, Chris Wolski, engaged in a deep-dive discussion on the burgeoning synergy between omics technologies and precision medicine solutions with Rosy Lee, VP and general manager, Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry, Thermo Fisher Scientific. 

Some ideas the two discussed during their conversation include:

• The significance of personalized medicine, and how marrying proteomics with genomics can better support individual health journeys.
• How precision medicine could change the relationship between the clinical lab and physicians.
• Ways Thermo Fisher’s Orbitrap Astral Mass Spectrometer supports lab clinicians.
• Current challenges and predictions in the space.

In this episode of Clinical Lab Chat, CLP’s Director of Business Intelligence, Chris Wolski, spoke with Judit Giró Benet, co-founder and CEO of The Blue Box, for an in-depth discussion on breast cancer diagnostics, with a focus on non-invasive testing.

Topics touched on during their conversation include:

• Using urine to identify breast cancer biomarkers
• The distinctions between mammographies and liquid biopsies for cancer detection 
• The importance of accessibility for breast cancer testing
• How the natural world influenced the development of The Blue Box.

In this episode of Clinical Lab Chat, CLP’s Director of Business Intelligence, Chris Wolski, interviews Jessica Murphy, MLS(ASCP)CM, senior technical laboratory educator for Thermo Fisher Scientific. Among the topics they tackled:

• Why there has been an increased prevalence of food allergies among the U.S. population in the past few decades.
• How home testing has helped to revolutionize allergy identification—and its potential clinical pitfalls.
• Why primary care physicians are on the allergy testing frontlines.
• How more precise allergy testing will help clinicians and patients manage these conditions.
• Why clinical labs are still critically important for allergy testing.
• What we can expect from allergy testing in the next 5 to 10 years.

In this episode of Clinical Lab Chat, Chris Wolski, CLP’s director of Business Intelligence, David West, CEO of Proscia, and Lou Welebob, vice president and general manager of pathology at Agilent, take a deep dive into the big challenges facing clinical labs today, including workforce shortages, scaling lab operations, and reimbursement, along with some of their solutions, including increased automation, agnostic platforms, and more coherent reimbursement coordination with regulatory agencies.

In the latest episode of Clinical Lab Chat, CLP’s director of business intelligence, Chris Wolski, has a wide-ranging discussion with Jeff Andrews, MD, FRCSC, vice president of Medical Affairs for BD, about BD’s recent STI health survey and what the findings mean for women’s health and their access to care. They also discuss the poor state of medical health education in the U.S., solutions that can help healthcare providers more efficiently test women for sexually transmitted infections, and how laboratorians can help improve testing rates.