AMP 2022 Annual Meeting

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of molecular diagnostics and compelled laboratories to quickly validate new methods and increase testing capacity.  Aegis Sciences Corporation has performed over 13.8M COVID-19 tests and has a capacity over 100,000 tests/day, servicing a broad network of physicians, urgent care centers, nursing homes, public schools, departments of health, and retail pharmacies across the United States. As the virus moves towards an endemic state and testing demand decreases, Aegis leveraged the partnerships, technologies, and infrastructure developed during the COVID-19 surge for new diagnostic offerings and strategies to expand molecular testing and prepare for future public health needs.

Time: 9:00 AM
Room: 224A

Speakers:

Fernando Torres, Genomics Product Manager, Q2Solutions: Results of the Evaluation of Oncomine Precision Assay in CRO Setting

Jon Sherlock, Oncology Product Director, Thermo Fisher Scientific: Oncomine Comprehensive Assay Plus on Genexus System - CGP in 48 hours

NGS implementation barriers including turnaround time and  level of  automation are being addressed. Join our workshop to hear how the Ion Torrent Genexus System enables labs to offer fast results, excellent sample success, and a true end-to-end workflow with integrated bioinformatics. With a growing menu of assays, the Genexus System can generate results in as little as 24 hrs for a targeted panel, and less than 48 hrs for a comprehensive panel with complex biomarkers including a genomic instability metric.

Time: 9:00 AM
Room: 224B

MAKO Medical Laboratories, a national reference laboratory and leader in SARS-CoV-2 testing is now one of fewer than 100 laboratories across the country capable of performing surveillance testing for monkeypox research. Mako Medical has developed a workflow for monkeypox surveillance testing to support health state department in furthering the research of monkeypox viral epidemiology.  The MAKO Medical team shares their journey of responding to the need for more surveillance testing capacity in the United States for monkeypox research.  Gain insights from a question-and-answer discussion format of the team’s decision on their workflow, including sample types, automation, reagents, and throughput. 

Time: 10:00 AM
Room: 224A

Speakers:

Cecilia Yeung, MD. Associate Professor Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutch Sophie Rozenzhak, PhD. Product Manger, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is becoming a critical component of molecular testing in both myeloid and lymphoproliferative neoplasms. During this workshop, hear from experts on the latest advances in the application of fast NGS for myeloid genomic profiling, myeloid measurable residual disease (MRD), and B-cell and T-cell sequencing applications for clonality assessment and detection of low-frequency residual clones. Talks will feature our latest NGS testing solutions, including the Ion Torrent Genexus System, which offers a fully complete end-to-end workflow capable of delivering results in just 1-2 days. See how these groundbreaking testing methods are helping to advance research in hemato-oncology care. 

Time: 10:00 AM
Room: 224B

Molecular testing infrastructure is critical for laboratories to rapidly respond during public health emergencies. Partnerships with public and private sector entities to expand resources, innovation, and capabilities support these efforts and limit the spread of health risks within the community.  The lessons learned from COVID-19 can be directly applied to the Monkeypox virus outbreak to improve preparedness, response, and community engagement for detection and prevention. Utilizing previously developed networks has dramatically reduced the response time to an emerging public health threat. Maintaining national laboratory capacity and infrastructure is a hedge against an increasingly interconnected world of transmissible pathogens.

Time: 11:00 AM
Room: 224A

From monitoring tumor biomarkers that inform treatment selection to tracking viral outbreaks using wastewater surveillance, dPCR enables clinical researchers and public health labs to quantitate nucleic acid targets reliably. The powerfully simple Absolute Q dPCR MAP technology enables less than 2% dead volume to help ensure rare target quantitation and detection are precise. Learn how a flexible workflow with 5-minute setup and 90-minute runs can expand the capabilities of your lab, and explore our latest innovations, including verified liquid biopsy assays, an optimized SARS-CoV-2 wastewater kit, and a custom assay design tool powered by more than 40 years of expertise.

Time: 11:00 AM
Room: 224B

Speakers:

Salvatore Priore, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania: Biomarker testing for NSCLC in 2022

Melina Marmarelis, MD, Medical Oncologist at the University of Pennsylvania: Case Studies: Current standard of care for treating patients with HER2-mutant mNSCLC

During this workshop, the speakers will review the latest biomarker developments in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), including emerging biomarkers, such as HER2 (ERBB2) mutations.

The oncologist and pathologist speakers from the same institution will discuss bringing together their complementary practices to provide the best possible diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to each individual patient. They will address how implementing next generation sequencing technology in-house can enable rapid turnaround times to facilitate clinical decision making. They will share their best practices for implementing a collaborative molecular tumor board and strategies for working together towards individualized treatments for their patients.

Time: 12:00 PM
Room: 230

Complicated UTIs require rapid and accurate test results for pathogen identification and antibiotic susceptibility. Standard urine culture has significant shortcomings, including a long delay before results and negative or “mixed flora/contamination” results for clear cases of UTI. Guidance® UTI is a precision diagnostic providing the sensitivity of PCR plus Pooled Antibiotic Susceptibility (P-AST™) measuring antibiotic susceptibility against the pool of polymicrobial organisms. By providing rapid and actionable results to the clinician, Guidance® UTI is associated with improved patient outcomes, with a 67% reduction of inpatient admissions and an average $463 reduction per complicated UTI case in Medical Resource Utilization costs.

Time: 1:00 PM
Room: 224A

Speakers:

Donna Wolk, MHA, PhD, D(ABMM), Division Chief, Molecular and Microbial Diagnostics and Development, Geisinger Medical Laboratories

Jennifer Dien Bard, PhD, D(ABMM), FIDSA Professor of Pathology Keck School of Medicine of USC

The promise of unlocking new frontiers in microbiology using modern technologies like NGS has been at the forefront of discussion recently.  With a significant increase in access to these technologies through pandemic response programs, we are now positioned to realize that promise through exploration and implementation of applications such as pathogen identification, tracking of AMR markers, and microbiome profiling.  Limitations of cumbersome workflows, long turnaround times, and complex analyses have largely been removed, though there is still significant opportunity ahead of us in order to pivot many well-established culture-based approaches to newer molecular methods using NGS. 

Time: 1:00 PM
Room: 224B

As leader in RT-PCR, Thermo Fisher Scientific committed to provide innovative, and flexible systems needed for laboratories to expand their IVD testing capabilities. For over 10 years, Thermo Fisher Scientific developed high-performance RT PCR (qPCR) instruments for clinical laboratories across the world. Our innovative IVDR compliant qPCR instruments showcase built-in smart features, user-friendly interfaces, integrated, intuitive, and modular software solutions along with user support and training. As a leader in RT-PCR, Thermo Fisher Scientific's molecular diagnostics solutions enable  actionale results accurately and quickly to meet your laboratory needs.

Time: 2:00 PM
Room: 224A

Speakers:

Jeremy Stuart, PhD, MPH, Chief Science Officer, Precision Genetics

Fiona Hyland, MSc Director of R&D, Bioinformatics Thermo Fisher Scientific

Postoperative pain control remains a huge challenge for healthcare systems though there are currently no tools available to routinely select personalized medication. Multiple genes have been implicated in explaining some variation among postoperative response and studies indicate that single-gene pharmacogenetic analysis can improve postop outcomes. However, most professional guidelines only provide recommendations for single gene/drug interactions. Precision Genetics, in cooperation with MUSC Health System, is undertaking the PRospective Outcomes and Molecular Implementation Support Registry (PROMISRx) Study to better explain interpatient variability in response to perioperative treatment and lead to the creation of a tool for predicting postoperative outcomes. 

Time: 2:00 PM
Room: 224B