Thermo Fisher Scientific showcases diagnostics innovation across therapeutic areas at ADLM 2024

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will showcase its broad diagnostics portfolio and host a series of customer-led workshops and presentations that highlight industry developments and the company’s latest innovations during the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine Conference (ADLM) July 28-Aug. 1, 2024, in Chicago, Ill. The company’s conference booth (#2213) has been designed as a “Story Tunnel” to lead visitors along a journey of research and clinical solutions impacting patient care across oncology, infectious disease, women’s health, toxicology, allergy, autoimmune diseases, and transplant and protein diagnostics.

“As the demands of the healthcare industry evolve, we continuously collaborate with our customers to provide advanced and reliable diagnostics solutions to help accelerate the development of new therapies and disease identification, ultimately supporting more informed treatment decisions for patients,” said Puneet Sarin, senior vice president and president, specialty diagnostics at Thermo Fisher. “With our product innovation, we’re also strengthening our distribution channels to ensure our leading-edge solutions are accessible to those who need them. We are driven by our Mission to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer, supporting our customers in the moments that matter most.”

Advancements in oncology

Supporting innovation in protein diagnostics, Thermo Fisher will provide a demonstration of the Optilite^® Analyzer, along with an overview of the Freelite^® assays, which received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to evaluate monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), a precursor to multiple myeloma.

Integration of liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) into the healthcare setting also continues, as demonstrated by the recent launch of the Thermo Scientific™ Stellar™ mass spectrometer,* an LC-MS solution that combines fast throughput and high sensitivity to advance clinical research. The system powers the conversion of scientific discoveries into clinical research applications. PrognomiQ, a diagnostic company transforming the detection and early treatment of cancer and complex diseases using multi-omics, is presenting their progress from unbiased plasma proteomics discovery to translated clinical assay.

As advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) are enabling adoption of the technology by local pathology departments, Dr. Allison Eck, director, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Doylestown Health, will lead a presentation, Results of Bringing Rapid Amplicon-based Sequencing to Doylestown Hospital, explaining how her lab successfully brought NGS testing in-house to facilitate shorter turnaround times, drive down costs and enable more efficient use of resources. Thermo Fisher’s NGS technology is also used in the National Cancer Institute’s Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Myelodysplastic Syndrome precision medicine umbrella trial, myeloMATCH.

Enabling maternal and women’s health

Recognized as one of TIME’s best inventions and the first immunoassays to receive FDA breakthrough designation and clearance for the risk assessment and clinical management of preeclampsia, Thermo Fisher’s test will also be featured in the ‘Story Tunnel’ booth where visitors can learn how the novel biomarkers are impacting treatment decisions for a growing number of mothers and their unborn children.

Early test adopter Dr. Sarosh Rana, professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Section Chief of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the University of Chicago, is a key opinion leader attending ADLM sharing her insights on the risks of preeclampsia and how Thermo Fisher’s assays are supporting maternal health at her hospital.

"In my own practice, leveraging biomarker-based testing innovations that can identify pregnant women who are at imminent risk of developing a severe form of preeclampsia is already positively impacting health outcomes for many of my patients," says Dr. Rana. "There is a real need for ongoing innovation in the diagnostics space, and this approach to risk assessment has the potential to revolutionize maternal care and further advance the way we practice obstetrics.”

Infectious disease and evolving regulations

As recently reported, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 10% of people initiating antiretroviral treatment (ART) globally carry drug-resistant HIV strains. Stephen Williams, PhD, clinical director at Thermo Fisher Scientific, will host a workshop titled, Testing for HIV Integrase Inhibitor Resistance: 2024 and Beyond. The discussion will feature perspectives from key opinion leaders in the HIV-DR field to discuss the current state of drug resistance globally and new challenges related to detection and monitoring of HIV-DR in the era of integrase strand transfer inhibitors.

The antibiotic stewardship (ABS) landscape continues to evolve, which is driving the way ABS committees operate. To help shed light on this evolution, Dr. Michael Broyles, Pharm D, director of medical affairs at Thermo Fisher, will lead an industry workshop to discuss a path forward to help meet changing requirements for ABS and improve clinical outcomes during his presentation titled, Navigating Antibiotic Stewardship Regulations with Procalcitonin.

NGS is proving to be a valuable platform for rapid detection and identification of microbial pathogens. Jennifer Dien Bard, PhD, interim chief of Laboratory Medicine and director, Clinical Microbiology and Virology at the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles will discuss how custom panels support rapid and accurate detection in her presentation, Feasibility study of an automated, targeted metagenomics NGS application for rapid detection of bacteria and fungi directly from specimens.

Optimizing autoimmune diagnostics

Stemming from the exclusive distribution agreement with Aesku Group, Thermo Fisher now offers Aesku’s portfolio of FDA-cleared IFA products, automated instruments, like the Helios HTC and software, in addition to EliA assays, which help provide unparalleled focus on automation and workflow efficiency to support earlier diagnosis and improve care for patients with autoimmune conditions. Thermo Fisher will showcase these capabilities in a presentation titled, Automated IFA now available through Thermo Fisher in the US.

Enabling faster and more accurate diagnoses for patients with complex autoimmune conditions, the Helios^® IFA System together with the EliA portfolio, run on Phadia Laboratory Systems, meets the evolving needs of laboratories and allows for more efficient workflows by providing the most comprehensive suite of automated diagnostic systems and methodologies available in the U.S. market.

For more information on Thermo Fisher’s activities at ADLM, please visit the company website or visit the “Story Tunnel” at the conference booth (#2213) to experience the full breadth of Thermo Fisher’s diagnostics solutions.

*For research use only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.