Clinical Lab Chat

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.