As hospital and clinical laboratories endure increasingly intense pressures to do more with less, they now face another challenge — rising demand for medical tests driven by an aging U.S. population that is expected to swell to more than 70 million in the next 20 years, an increase of more than 80% from today. To help laboratories manage these burgeoning testing volumes, Abbott's ArchitectPlus, the enhanced Architect family of immunochemistry analyzers, being showcased for the first time this week at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry Lab Expo, offers enhanced automation, workstation consolidation, high efficiency and labor savings for laboratories of all sizes.

The new features of ArchitectPlus include more comprehensive and user-friendly software; a smaller size to help reduce space requirements; improvements to streamline operations and reduce interruptions; new video instructions to help with routine maintenance; and an attractive exterior design and...

As IVD devices become more complex and sensitive, there is a corresponding need for highly specialized sorbents that are custom built and can be incorporated into the packaging of the device. These sorbents will ensure the device’s reliability and integrity remain intact and preserved from production to distribution and until opened for use. Typically an IVD’s most vulnerable components are the substrates or reservoirs containing chemical reagents or biologically-active proteins that react, sometimes electrochemically, with the sample to produce a product that can be measured optically or photometrically.

The key to maintaining IVD device integrity is the use of intelligent sorbents that ensure a specific packaging environment outcome is achieved. Many manufacturers make the critical mistake of choosing an off-the-shelf product. “The reality is, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution,” says Adrian Possumato, Global Director of...

As actress Lindsay Lohan now knows, there are a variety of ways to test a person’s bodily fluids for alcohol consumption, both before and after an arrest for driving under the influence and to monitor adherence during rehabilitation. During her recent probation for DUI, Lohan found herself in a special ankle bracelet that uses Breathalyzer technology to sample the sweat on the skin every half hour to determine if an individual violates probation by drinking alcohol. In Lohan’s case, the device was triggered several times, prompting the judge to consider these violations when sentencing her to 90 days in jail.

In most cases where individuals are suspected of driving under the influence, breath analyzers are used to determine blood alcohol concentration, but according to Dr. Amitava Dasgupta, Director of Clinical Chemistry, Toxicology and Point-of-Care Services at Memorial-Hermann Hospital, Texas Medical Center in Houston, not all breath analyzers are created equal...

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. announced the launch of the Thermo Scientific Sera-Mag SpeedBeads Blocked-Streptavidin Magnetic Particles for automated immunoassay, immunoprecipitation, DNA/RNA purification and protein purification applications. These uniform, colloidally-stable, monodispersed, nominal 1 µm particles use a non-surfactant, non-protein surface-blocking approach to provide very low non-specific binding and high binding capacity for biotinylated target molecules. The company is showcasing the Thermo Scientific Sera-Mag SpeedBeads Blocked-Streptavidin Magnetic Particles at the Thermo Scientific booth during the 2010 AACC annual meeting.

"The low non-specific binding characteristics of our blocked streptavidin magnetic particles significantly reduce lipids, proteins and other undesirable entities from binding to the particle and interfering with assay precision and specificity. These particles also greatly reduce the need for protein-based blockers that...