Tag Archives: Genetics

August 2021—Pharmacogenetic testing is not standard of care at most transplant centers, nor do the FDA or others mandate it. But “transplant medicine is ripe for observing the benefits of pharmacogenetics,” said Gwendolyn A. McMillin, PhD, D(ABCC), in an AACC virtual session last year.

February 2020—Cost-effectiveness analysis of health care diagnosis and treatment, unfortunately connoting quotas and spartan budgets, may not have the best reputation among the general public.

November 2019—The LUVOIR telescope proposed this year by NASA, when it is launched into orbit, will outperform the Hubble Telescope 40-fold in ability to detect and visualize deep space objects in detail. But while dazzling in concept, the LUVOIR is still in development. Interestingly, at the genomic level, a similarly impressive advance in detection called mate pair sequencing has already progressed from research to clinical use in diagnosing cancer. With mate pair sequencing, a novel next-generation sequencing technique, Mayo Clinic is advancing the laboratory’s current capabilities for visualizing genetic rearrangements, thus increasing the diagnostic yield of testing for a variety of neoplasms.

August 2018—After more than a year of gathering information and deliberating, members of the Association for Molecular Pathology Pharmacogenomics Working Group have issued the first in what will be a series of recommendations to standardize pharmacogenetic testing.

July 2018—Putting pharmacogenetic testing into play at Avera Health was years in the making. It took time to operationalize it at an affordable cost. Today, it has wide physician acceptance and is seen as a strong benefit for patients. “Pharmacogenetics is what will differentiate Avera in a new era of ACOs and personalized medicine, and will ultimately lead to a model for transforming health care,” says Trisha Lauterbach, MS, MLS(ASCP)CM, laboratory operations manager at Avera Institute for Human Genetics (AIHG), Sioux Falls, SD.