Laboratory Equipment
Laboratory equipment for clinical labs and pathology groups includes a wide range of devices and instruments, some of which are familiar to the general public and some of which are highly specialized to clinical lab work.
Laboratory equipment is generally used to either perform an experiment or to take measurements and gather data. Larger or more sophisticated equipment is generally called a scientific instrument.
Such equipment includes test tubes, Folin-Wu tubes for blood glucose determination, petri dishes, beakers, flasks, Pasteur pipettes, glass slides, syringes and needles, autoclave, disposable gloves, tourniquets, microscopes, Bunsen burners, ultracentrifuge, electrophoresis apparatus, chromatography system, hematology analyzer, chemistry analyzer, semiauto analyzer, reflotron, setup for radioimmunoassay, setup for enzyme linked immunosorbant assay, (ELISA, colorimeter, burette, induction coils, cathode ray oscilloscope, recording kymograph and surface plasmon resonance equipment and various reagents.)
Other laboratory equipment might include a skin analyzer, oxygen analyzer, flouresence microscope, spectrum analyzer, and a digital pathology scanner, among many others.
At the same time, technology is advancing to the point where the capabilities of an entire laboratory can now be contained in relatively small devices. One relatively new device the size of a cola can is paired with a smartphone and can diagnose diseases like a clinical laboratory.
Another such device, marketed largely to developing countries that lack a well-developed network of clinical laboratories, is a credit-card-size anthrax detector that also works like a portable medical laboratory in the field.
In addition, research organizations, including one in the United States, one in New Zealand, and two in the U.K., have unveiled several devices that will analyze DNA in the field. Again, this line of research is of particular interest in developing countries where resources such as electricity for refrigeration are scarce. Some of the DNA testing devices will produce results in minutes to hours, eliminating the need to return to a clinical laboratory to analyze samples.
Ranging in size from little more than a pack of gum to about the size of a large brick, these devices for DNA analysis have the potential to serve as mobile medical laboratories for pathologists in the field.
“Distributed” Lab Model Soon to Become Reality
CEO SUMMARY: During the 1990s, laboratory automation was expected to have the greatest impact upon the structure and organization of laboratories. However, like the famous race between the tortoise and the hare, it’s our prediction that point-of-care testing technology, quietly advancin…
Point-Of-Care Chemistry Ready To Transform Labs
CEO SUMMARY: Following on the heels of our prediction about web-based test ordering/results reporting, here’s another equally revolutionary development. CARESIDE, Inc. is ready to launch a point-of-care instrument suite for routine, high-volume chemistry and hematology tests. Early peek…
Pap Smear Marketplace Shifting into High Gear
CEO SUMMARY: It took just four years to shake out the weakest competitors in the emerging field of automated cytology. Now only TriPath Imaging, Inc. and Cytyc Corporation remain in competition. Indications are that this will be a nasty battle. Pathologists and lab executives contemplatin…
Associated Pathologists Laboratories Pursues Drugs of Abuse Testing
CEO SUMMARY: Since 1994, Las Vegas-based Associated Pathologists Laboratories has carved a thriving business from drugs of abuse testing. Its fast-growing toxicology business is built around a full-service menu of testing services. This includes a patented drug screen based upon testing h…
AutoCyte to Buy NSI’s Patents and Other Assets
CEO SUMMARY: When Neuromedical Systems entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy, AutoCyte moved rapidly to purchase Neuromedical’s patents and other intellectual property for automated cytology technology. Even as Neuromedical disappears from the marketplace, AutoCyte is preparing its entry. Labor…
Neuromedical Systems Files Bankruptcy Action
CEO SUMMARY: Automated cytology technology suffered its first financial failure. Escalating losses and dismal revenue prospects combined to drive Neuromedical Systems, Inc. into bankruptcy. Its PapNet System for Pap smears was a pioneering technology that never achieved market acceptance….
Automated Pap Smear Screening Expected to Build Market Share
EXPECT 1999 TO BE A PIVOTAL YEAR in automated Pap smear screening. This new technology is now poised to enter general clinical usage. As it does, an increasing volume of clinical data will make the case: either automated screening of Pap smears is clinically effective and economically justified—or…
Pharmacogenomics Is The Coming Wave
CEO SUMMARY: It may be gloom and doom today in the clinical laboratory industry, but long term prospects for diagnostic testing are brightening. Increased understanding of human genetics drives new discoveries about how and why the same drug affects individuals differently. Biotech compan…
Neuromedical’s PAPNET® Undergoing Enhancement
CEO SUMMARY: Financial pressures and a falling stock price impelled Neuromedical Systems, Inc. to revamp its sales and marketing plan for the PAPNET® System. During 1998, expect a new sales approach that supports a product with enhanced capabilities. Neuromedical is developing overseas m…
Pap Smear Technologies Battle For Market Share
CEO SUMMARY: Cytyc, NeoPath and Neuromedical each tapped the public capital markets during the past 18 months. Now investors expect to see earnings growth and dividends as soon as possible. Clinical laboratories should expect intensified sales and marketing efforts from these three compan…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 6 – April 21, 2025
Now that a federal judge has vacated the FDA’s LDT rule, The Dark Report analyzes the judgement and notes the various steps the FDA could take in response. Also, lab testing at pharmacies is proving to be less successful than was once anticipated.
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