Clinical Laboratory Automation Comes of Age

A “U” lane conveys medical specimens to an Ektachem 950 AT.

The installation of the Coulter Laboratory Automation System (manufactured by IDS, Kumomoto, Japan) in the Ciba Corning Clinical Laboratories facility in St. Louis, MO, represents the first completely functional automation system outside of Japan which automatically performs the pre-analytical processing (centrifugation, decapping, aliquotting) and sorting of medical specimens prior to analysis.

The system, designed in part by laboratory director J. David Hoover, begins the specimen automation process by recognizing hematology specimens and loading them into Coulter STKS hematology analyzers. Soon to be incorporated into this section are automatic slide staining and microscopic differential analysis on specimens determined to be abnormal by the STKSs. Bayer/Technicon DAX 96 chemistry analyzers were added in November 1995 and are fully integrated with the LAS.

The installation of an LAS in the MetPath Laboratory is the first of three planned Corning installations across the country. A second is now in progress in Denver, CO, with a third scheduled for April 1996 in Detroit, MI.

The first hospital based Coulter/IDS installation is now functioning in Charlottesville, Virginia at the University of Virginia. A pre-analytical processing system (centrifugation, decapping, aliquotting) is currently on loan to the Medical Automation Research Center as an industry-sponsored project to assess the impact of advanced automation on hospital laboratories.

What is the ALA?

The Association for Laboratory Automation was created to advance the worldwide utilization of automation, robotics and artificial intelligence in order to improve the quality, efficiency and relevance of laboratory analysis.

We provide a focal point for all activities involving laboratory automation and through this newsletter, we keep our members informed of the latest developments and products in laboratory automation, provide a forum for the newest ideas in the field and serve as a link between laboratories and industry

In addition, we play an active role in promoting the development of new automation technology by funding research and assisting innovative engineers in commercializing their inventions.

Our members include leaders in all aspects of laboratory automation and we will continue to recruit new members from among the pioneers in this rapidly evolving field.

If you are not already an ALA member, we would like to take this opportunity to invite you to join. Membership information can be found at the end of the newsletter.

A cartesian robot loads five specimens at a time into the Coulter/IDS centrifuge

Johnson & Johnson Clinical Diagnostics has also contributed an Ektachem 950 AT chemistry analyzer, which has been modified and interfaced with the Coulter/IDS. Specimens are paused on the IDS conveyor belt and the Ektachem sips the serum or plasma required for its tests. This installation represents the first clinicalchemistry analyzer linked to a LAS in the Western Hemisphere. Furthermore, the modern concept of allowing the analyzer to perform its specimen aspiration directly from the conveyor belt without the need for an intervening robotic arm is also an industry first.

This successful cooperative project between the Medical Automation Research Center, Coulter Corporation, and Johnson & Johnson Clinical Diagnostics is paving the way for more diagnostic industry cooperative ventures in the future.

In addition, the project is demonstrating to many skeptical customers that LAS installations do not have to be a single-vendor product.

The CoulterlIDS is one ofmany new systems that are now available or will be available on the market in the near future. Look to Autolab (Otobicoke, Canada), Boehringer Mannheim/Hitachi (Indianapolis, Indiana) and LabInterlink (Omaha, Nebraska) for similar LAS products. In-depth reviews of these systems will be available in upcoming issues of LAN.