NEWS
BCPS goes live with immunology automation
Euroimmun – part of Revvity – has installed a transformative diagnostics solution at the central immunology laboratory within the Black Country Pathology Services (BCPS) network, contributing to the managed service contract provided by Abbot Core Diagnostics. The Euroimmun solution was procured
through a mini-competition under the managed service framework. Abbot served as the project manager, overseeing the implementation journey from installation and verification through go-live and ongoing operational support. The BCPS Immunology laboratory is
now live with an advanced automated digital microscopy system supporting the analysis of a wide range of autoantibodies including ANA, liver autoantibodies, dsDNA Crithidia, ANCA, paraneoplastic, adrenal and endomysial antibodies. This marks a major step forward in modernising and enhancing Black Country’s NHS laboratory immunodiagnostic service. The new setup features the
EUROLabWorkstation IFA, a fully automated, high-throughput incubation platform for slide processing. This unique system showcases Euroimmun’s proven
technology of TITREPLANE technique, enabling genuine standardised incubation, and combines MERGITE! innovative technology for washing IFA slides to reduce any artifacts. EUROLabWorkstation IFA processes over 700 samples and 750 reaction fields per run, providing throughput of 200 analyses every hour. Full traceability is ensured through barcode recognition of samples, labware, reagents and slides, standardised washing of 50 reaction fields and features automatic coverslip mounting. In addition to the automated processing
platform, significant IFA workflow analyses are supported using two EUROPatern Microscope Live digital microscopes, enabling high-quality imaging, interpretation and classification across multiple cellular and tissue substrates.
Clinical trial aims to better protect babies from RSV
A new international research effort is underway to find the best ways to protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common infection of the nose, throat and lungs that can cause serious breathing problems in young children. Its symptoms are similar to those of
the common cold, flu, or COVID-19, making it difficult to distinguish RSV from other respiratory infections based on symptoms alone. The PIPELINE-RSV trial, sponsored by Penta, will compare existing prevention options given during pregnancy and early infancy, helping researchers understand which approach offers the strongest and longest-lasting protection. They will enrol pregnant individuals to
evaluate two licensed RSV prevention tools. The RSV vaccine which is routinely offered to all pregnant individuals in the UK will be given to mothers during pregnancy in this trial, which allows protective antibodies
to pass to the baby through the placenta, protecting them in their first months of life. Infants may then be given the long-acting monoclonal antibody, Nirsevimab, when they are four months old which provides immediate protection by delivering antibodies that fight RSV. The team will investigate whether combining these two approaches could provide even greater protection than vaccination alone. Researchers at City St George’s Vaccine
Institute who are leading the trial have now opened the first UK site at St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on the Tooting campus. The RSV study will recruit 1,500
pregnant women from the UK, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands, with an extra 1,000 in a parallel study in France. Together, these studies will generate the most comprehensive evidence yet on how to prevent RSV in early life.
April 2026
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