DATE: October 26, 2017
TIME: 10:00am PT, 1:00pm ET

Mass spectrometry has gained tremendous interests in clinical applications in the past decade to serve patients needs.  While there are many new applications of the technology, there are many challenges in further implementation of this technology. This presentation will discuss the current challenges to implement mass spectrometry in clinical laboratories, particularly in automation and training.  

Mass spectrometry has been mainly for detection of small molecules.  Many efforts have been devoted to broaden its application for next generation clinical mass spectrometry analysis in areas such as the analysis of proteins and peptides, low concentration compounds, high resolution detection, and multiple disease panels.  In addition to the applications in clinical chemistry and microbiology, much research has been done for tissue imaging and cancer diagnostics in the field of anatomic pathology.  This presentation will provide an overview of these areas and their potential impact of clinical mass spectrometry on the betterment of patient care.

Learning objectives:

• List two major challenges in implementing mass spectrometry in clinical laboratories
• Identify three training resources for medical technologists
• Discuss two areas of future development for next generation mass spectrometry