Controlling the Uncontrollable: Establishing the Boundaries for the Diagnosis of Respiratory Disease During the COVID-19 Pandemic


This webinar is hosted by GenomeWeb and sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific. The webinar was recorded on August 11, 2020.

Speaker: John R. Barnes, PhD, Research Microbiologist-Team Lead, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Speaker: Tony Prestigiacomo, Sr. Director of R&D, Thermo Fisher Scientific
Duration: 1 hour

Overview:

Establishing and evaluating proper controls are critical to the success and accuracy of any diagnostic assay. Successful controls increase confidence in a diagnosis by verifying that every step in the diagnostic process is working properly and providing reliable information. The testing volume and supply shortages incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic have stressed all aspects of respiratory disease diagnosis, heightening the importance of internal and external controls.

Dr. John R. Barnes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will give a presentation focusing on developing and validating internal and external controls for nucleic-acid based tests for infectious respiratory disease, using the new CDC Influenza SARS-CoV2 Multiplex Assay as an example. The possible effects of shortages and processing changes on diagnosis and the importance of evaluating controls during the COVID-19 pandemic are also discussed.

Tony Prestigiacomo, Sr. Director of R&D at Thermo Fisher Scientific, will then talk about the importance of quality control in serological testing for infectious disease.

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CE credit not available for this webinar.

John R. Barnes, PhD
Research Microbiologist-Team Lead
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, GA

Dr. John R. Barns holds a BS in biochemistry and molecular biology from Centre College and his PhD from the Univeristy of Georgia. He is a Research Microbiologist-Team Lead at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA. He’s been at the CDC for several years holding positions as Associate Service Fellow Lead Influenza Sequence Activity, Research Microbiologist- Team Lead Influenza Genomics Team and Research Microbiologist- Team Lead for the Genomics and Diagnostics Team. Dr. Barnes is an internationally recognized expert in the field of influenza viral genomics and diagnostics. He is the Sole winner (2018) of the CDC award for Excellence in Laboratory Research.

Tony Prestigiacomo
Sr. Director of R&D
Thermo Fisher Scientific
Fremont, CA

Tony Prestigiacomo holds a B.S. degree in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego and M.S. from Stanford University. He has over 30 years in in vitro diagnostics serving the clinical laboratory industry and has extensive experience in leading the development of new instrument platforms including hardware, software and diagnostic reagents. He has been involved with the development of Quality Control monitoring tools and QC materials to ensure proper assay performance. He had previous experience working with the WHO and IFCC working groups to adopt new biological standards and was the industrial representative on the NGSP (National Glycohemoglobin Standardization Program).

Currently, Tony is the Head of Research & Development at Thermo Fisher Scientific, Niche Diagnostics which includes development of third-party Quality Controls for Clinical Immunoassay and Molecular Diagnostic tests and accompanying monitoring software (LabLink xL). His consistent passion for improving laboratory productivity and improved patient care is what is driving him and Thermo Fisher Scientific to provide end-to-end solutions for clinical laboratories.

John R. Barnes

John R. Barnes, PhD
Research Microbiologist-Team Lead, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Tony Prestigiacomo

Tony Prestigiacomo
Sr. Director of R&D
Thermo Fisher Scientific