Setting the Stage for Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics: AACC 2014 Conference Preview

Key Show Information and Product Highlights

If your travel plans this summer include a stop at the 2014 AACC Annual Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo in Chicago in July, you are most likely seeking innovative news about technologies, research, products, scholarly presentations, and all things related to laboratory medicine and research. Perhaps you are interested in automation, point-of-care news, advances in clinical diagnostics testing, instruments, and kits, or are looking forward to the OEM Lecture Series. While you embark on your journey of networking, collaboration, and fulfillment of knowledge, we highly suggest enjoying some of Chicago’s fine cityscape and cuisine in your spare time.

The 2014 AACC Annual Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo takes place July 27–31, 2014, at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL, which is North America’s largest convention center.

The Expo (Exhibition) hours are:

  • Tuesday, July 29, 9:30 am–5:00 pm
  • Wednesday, July 30, 9:30 am–5:00 pm
  • Thursday, July 31, 9:30 am–2:00 pm

Complimentary lunch will be provided to all attendees and exhibitors in the exposition on Wednesday, July 30 and Thursday, July 31. AACC lunch tickets will be provided with the registration materials.

American Laboratory will be present at AACC, gathering notes and insights for our readers. However, if you plan on attending, it is useful to have some advance knowledge of the details surrounding the event, especially new technology highlights. Automation is gaining more traction and is delivering promising results. Below, you will find details about noteworthy workshop agendas, exhibitors, and new product launches at AACC 2014.

Theater workshops—preview

Theater workshops will be held in the Theater room on the exhibit hall floor. For those seeking a review and preview in the advances in automation, particularly in quality control, Roche Diagnostics is hosting a theater workshop on July 29 from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm entitled “Fulfilling the Original Promise of Automation.” For those seeking knowledge in the interest of point-of-care applications,
Instrumentation Laboratory is hosting a comprehensive workshop entitled “Development and Implementation of Individualized Quality Control Plans (IQCP) in Point-of-Care Testing” on July 30 from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm.

New products showcasing advances in automated sample handling and diagnostics

Arkray (Booth 2056) will be featuring its ARKRAY AUTION HYBRID™ AU-4050, the industry’s smallest, fully automated analyzer that combines urine chemistry and flow cytometry technology in one easily accessible package.

Beckman Coulter (Booth 2812) will be showcasing its Power Express Automation System, a high-throughput automated sample handling system. The Power Express is engineered to efficiently process chemistry, immunochemistry, hematology, and coagulation tubes. Speed and throughput are radically increased with the implementation of a 4-lane track for automated sample handling. The system is currently pending clearance by the U.S. FDA and is not yet available for in vitro diagnostic use.

HOLOGIC (Booth 4012) will be presenting its Tomcat™ Instrument, a true workhouse designed to perform a full range of processing activities for liquid-based cytology samples, including barcode validation, vortexing, decapping, recapping, aliquoting, reagent dispensing, and incubating. The Tomcat is designed to eliminate manual aliquoting steps, thereby freeing up labor time and labor costs, improving confidence in sample quality by standardizing the aliquoting process, as well as reducing the risk of cross-contamination as well as the incidence of repetitive motion injuries.

Roche Diagnostics (Booth MR 19) will be exhibiting its new cobas® 8100 automated workflow series, designed for automation by providing bi-directional sample transport lines that maintain predictable TAT during peak testing hours with two-story system architecture that separates full sample holders from empty ones. This instrument conforms to a laboratory’s unique needs by allowing users to conduct workflows using primary samples, aliquoting, or by using a mixture of both. The add-on/repeat testing process is automated by the flexibility of using add-on buffers.

AACC 24/7/365:
More than a conference

The AACC is an international scientific society of clinical laboratory professionals, physicians, research scientists, and other individuals involved with clinical diagnostics and related fields. The AACC features 17 specialized divisions, ranging alphabetically from “Animal Clinical Chemistry” to “TDM and Toxicology.” These specialized divisions provide unprecedented educational and networking opportunities to members. To read more about the AACC’s specialized divisions, please access the following url: www. aacc.org/members/divisions.

We hope that you will join us at AACC 2014! Safe travels!

Emilia Raszkiewicz is Managing Edi tor, American Laboratory/Labcompare; e-mail: [email protected].