Beyond Clinical Diagnostics
In 2001, the discovery of anthrax-containing letters sent to the government and media terrorized the United States, with subsequent copycat biological incidents, with the intention to spread fear. IVD technologies have been successfully employed in nonclinical settings to provide authorities with rapid means of determining the degree of hazard in a potential biological incident. This article explores this unique field use of IVDs in suspect biological incidents, the equipment, and methods utilized to determine real or hoax status.

Diagnostics for Personalized Medicine
The concept of personalized medicine is a growing trend with implications for global diagnostic practices. Patient outcomes are likely to be improved if certain complex IVD tests can be taken out of the laboratory into a decentralized setting, from critical care settings to the home. For this to be a realized, testing systems are needed that can work from picomolar concentrations in blood and saliva. This possibility is opened up by a new technology based on nanoparticles.

*Editorial subject to change