NEWS
SYNLAB wins Mid and South Essex pathology contract
SYNLAB has been chosen as the preferred supplier for the delivery of a single, outsourced pathology service to the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust. Used by all GPs in the region as well as Southend, Basildon and Broomfield hospitals, this service will include blood, tissue and other sample testing as well as the operation of phlebotomy clinics. This decision comes after extensive engagement by the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust with patients, staff, unions, and healthcare partners. SYNLAB has committed to ensuring that the delivery of these services remains within the local area and to investing heavily in facilities, technology and state- of-the-art laboratory equipment to meet the future needs of the 15-year contract term. This investment is focused on enhancing service delivery and capabilities that benefit NHS patients, clinicians
and all current and future colleagues. Dr Faisal Bin-Reza, Clinical Director of Pathology at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust commented: “The decision to choose a preferred supplier is good news for patients as it brings us a step closer to having a single pathology solution across mid and south Essex. Following a thorough and competitive procurement process, SYNLAB have demonstrated that they are best placed to give our patients and staff teams the high-quality pathology service they should expect.”
Mark Dollar, CEO of SYNLAB UK &
Ireland added: “We are delighted by this news and are looking forward to deepening our commitment to the mid and south Essex area. The challenging procurement process allowed us to demonstrate both our understanding of the trust’s local pressures and ambitions, and our broader expertise in NHS pathology partnerships across the UK. Added to this is SYNLAB’s absolute commitment to ensuring the services remain based in the area and to significant investments in technology and equipment.”
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Novel biomarker sepsis test in development at Imperial
Diagnostic firm MicrosensDx is working with The Mayr Group at Imperial College London to develop a novel biomarker test for the early recognition of sepsis. Based on MicrosensDx’s IP and technology, and designed to fit with existing diagnostic processes, this test could potentially fill a critical gap in patient management, offering clinicians a specific, quantitative diagnostic and prognostic solution to help prioritise appropriate treatment of sepsis. There is a clear need for routine testing to enable more specific detection and prioritisation of sepsis treatment, as current biomarkers focus mainly on detecting inflammation, and most proposed biomarkers have limitations. A successful test to profile the risk of sepsis could therefore improve treatment, enable more timely and appropriate interventions, and reduce costs. MicrosensDx and Imperial are applying their joint expertise and experience
in infectious diseases to address this challenge, with the aim of developing a groundbreaking sepsis test based on the detection of P Complex, which increases during serious infection, with high levels linked to poor patient outcomes. The team is working on an early-stage project to evaluate the efficacy of specific antibodies against P Complex, as part of a programme to establish the first all-in-one test to stratify the risk of patients developing severe sepsis.
“The sepsis biomarkers currently in clinical use lack specificity, highlighting the need for new markers with the ability to effectively stratify individual patients according to their severity of risk in a dynamic and timely fashion,” said Professor Manuel Mayr, British Heart Foundation (BHF) Professor for Cardiovascular Proteomics at the National Heart and Lung Institute, and Co-director of the BHF Centre of Research Excellence at Imperial.
Paige unveils AI ‘co-pilot’ Alba
AI technology firm Paige has unveiled Alba, a clinical-grade multimodal co-pilot designed to revolutionise personalised medicine and precision oncology. Using the power of Paige’s Foundation Models, Alba delivers AI-driven patient insights in real-time and marks a significant step toward Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Alba seamlessly integrates state-of- the-art computational pathology large vision models (LVMs) with conversational large language models (LLMs). Bringing together multiple AI-driven insights into a single, cohesive solution provides a unique, real-time interactive experience for pathologists, oncologists, multidisciplinary clinical teams and in clinical trials management.
A standout feature of Alba is its ability
to aggregate and summarise patient data from the multiple data sources that exist in hospitals, including electronic health records, laboratory information systems, and image management systems. By eliminating the need to navigate multiple platforms, Alba allows pathologists to access comprehensive, patient-specific summaries - including prior pathology reports, radiology findings, and patient history - within seconds. This reduces time
spent on administrative tasks and enables faster, more informed decision making. “Pathologists often struggle with the lack of clinical context essential for reaching a precise diagnosis,” said Dr Juan Retamero, Medical Vice President, Pathology Operations for Diagnostic Products at Paige. “Alba’s natural language processing capabilities, combined with its integration with other clinical software solutions, provide this critical context.”
Alba leverages Paige’s portfolio of clinical-grade AI to analyse all the digital images associated with a case, highlighting areas suspicious for cancer and providing interim case evaluations for expert review. Paige Alba is currently for research use only, not for use in diagnostic procedures.
OCTOBER 2024
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