MOLECULAR
MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY
Read articles about molecular microbiology from Microbiologics’ experts and other field experts.
The Public Health Crisis of Antimicrobial Resistance
What if the latest tech device had all the bells and whistles everyone wanted and was far better than anything currently being sold, but the marketer was told he could not sell it until all the previous versions of his device had broken? And then, he had to sell his...
The Sustained Increase in STIs
Less than 20 years ago, STIs were at historic lows. Syphilis was close to elimination. In 2021, however, sexually transmitted infections are at an all-time high, yet the importance of prevention and screening seems to have fallen by the wayside. Recent statistics...
Celebrating Medical Laboratory Professionals Week 2021
In a time when we have come to rely on medical laboratory professionals more and more, we also run the risk of taking their work for granted. Their work is so integral to our health and everyday life that most people rarely take notice. Medical Laboratory...
The Crisis of Increasing Drug-Resistance in the Tuberculosis Pandemic
About every 22 seconds, someone dies from Tuberculosis. As the deadliest bacterial infection worldwide, Tuberculosis causes or contributes to 1-1.5 million deaths per year, recently surpassing HIV as the deadliest single infectious agent. Around ten million people...
The Challenges of Accurate Zika Virus Testing
Although it is largely forgotten today, just five years before the Coronavirus Pandemic, the Zika virus was making headlines. In early 2016, the World Health Organization declared the Zika epidemic a public health emergency, as evidence mounted that the Zika virus...
When COVID-19 Meets Flu Season: How One Clinical Laboratory is Preparing
A typical flu season presents significant challenges for medical laboratories with increased demand and pressure for providing quick and accurate diagnostic testing. But what happens when you combine this already demanding time with the global COVID-19 pandemic? No...
What Happens When Laboratory Tests Fail?
The Critical Role of QC in Every Stage of Assay Development and Usage For anyone of us involved in medical laboratory or public health laboratory testing, we understand the critical importance of clinical quality control (QC). With the ongoing fallout from the...
Uses and Advantages of Synthetic RNA Process Controls for SARS-CoV-2 Assays
For a highly infectious virus like SARS-CoV-2, an inactivated whole virus control is the gold standard for accuracy. For labs that opt for other control formats, synthetic RNA controls can provide many of the same qualities as inactivated whole virus controls. While...
Advantages of Whole Virus Controls for SARS-CoV-2 Quality Control
The COVID-19 pandemic has put increasing pressure on front-line healthcare workers to deliver fast and accurate test results. For any clinical diagnostic testing, laboratory professionals need assurance that sample preparation methods, as well as the instrumentation...
COVID-19 and Proficiency Testing
I think by now it is safe to say that we are truly living in unprecedented times with the current Coronavirus pandemic. The majority of us have never experienced anything even remotely similar to this in our lives before. If you are currently a front-line worker in...
