16 years ago Molecular testing was in its infancy in the Serology Department of Gribbles Pathology Clayton Vic (now Australian Clinicallabs). Serology was a subunit of Microbiology which itself was a subunit of Pathology and Molecular was just a new type of assay performed in serology. Times have changed and the laboratory portfolio rapidly expanded as did the instruments and chemistries required to perform the assays. Volume increased rapidly requiring automation to help load the samples in the traditional “extraction to reaction” workflow. Automated liquid handlers replaced many of the manual loading steps and automated extraction platforms replaced most of the single column based extractions. 96 well column based extractors and magnetic particle based platforms became dominant as conventional PCR and gel based assays were replaced by real time PCR in the routine laboratory. Continued portfolio and volume increases led to expansion down 2 distinct streams being Infectious Molecular and the Genetics discipline including routine genetics assays, hereditary disorders, pharmacogenomics and predictive medicine, cancer assays and Non Invasive Prenatal Testing with all of the techniques associated i.e. Mass spec, array, RT PCR, flow cytometry, conventional and next gen sequencing. Substantial volume increases in the Infectious area put pressure on labor and efficiency running multiple large batches of samples. The need to further minimise pre analytical steps, pretreatments and hands-on during extraction and amplification led to the acquisition of the Hologic Panther platforms, the first truly random access molecular platform with primary sample handling, bi directional interface and on board confirmatory testing. The random access nature of the Panther has changed the workflow of the laboratory immensely and has proven to be a “game changer”. The Australian Clinicallabs molecular unit now stands as a state of the art facility under the banner of “Advanced Pathology” and it’s growth rate is considerably greater than any of the other pathology disciplines thanks to the perfect blend of science, technology and staff.
Disclosure:This presentation was supported by Hologic.