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.