On August 16, 2017 Wadsworth Center’s Master of Science in Laboratory Sciences (MLS) Program graduates its fourth class. One component of Wadsworth Center’s mission is education. The work of this year’s three graduates links the MLS Program to the Center’s primary mission: public health.

“Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.” -Babe Ruth As any fan or parent who spends countless hours at the field can tell you, it’s baseball season. Just as the baseball stars we watch on TV have put decades of hard work into becoming the best in their field, so too have the Wadsworth Center staff who received national recognition at the annual Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) meeting this June. Their many contributions and exceptional leadership over the years make them all winners.

Members of Wadsworth Center’s Bacteriology Laboratory, along with a guest lecturer from the CDC, provided a 2-day classroom and hands-on workshop in culture, susceptibility and DNA detection of antibiotic resistant bacteria for 12 laboratory professionals from 7 state public health laboratories.

FDA accredits Wadsworth Center as a 3rd party reviewer for selected premarket notifications or 510(k)s, which allows the Center to review, on FDA’s behalf, certain devices that fall under this classification. This accreditation represents the recognition of the expertise acquired by the Center’s staff from reviewing laboratory developed tests as part of New York’s Clinical Laboratory Reference System.

At the recent Clinical Virology Symposium in Savannah, Georgia, Dr. St. George, Chief of the Laboratory of Viral Diseases at the Wadsworth Center, was presented with the 2017 Diagnostic Virology Award. Established in 1985, this international career-achievement award from the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology, acknowledges an individual whose contributions to viral diagnosis have had a major impact on the discipline.

Wadsworth Center Newborn Screening Program Sequences the Gene Responsible for Cystic Fibrosis Good news for new parents: the Wadsworth Center’s Newborn Screening Program has developed a more precise screening tool for cystic fibrosis (CF), alleviating the anxiety that accompanies a false positive test and the need for additional diagnostic testing.

New York State Department of Health's Wadsworth Center Masters of Laboratory Science students exhibit interactive public health activities during the Albany March for Science at the New York State Capitol on Saturday, April 22, 2017. Celebrated in cities world-wide, the March for Science is a day to promote evidence-based methodology and discovery, and understand the role that science plays in each of our daily lives.

Dr. Kannan, of the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, is recognized as the 2017 recipient of the Lawrence S. Sturman Excellence in Research Award for his profound impact and contribution to the field of biomonitoring and environmental exposure assessment.

Wadsworth Center One of Four Laboratories in the Nation Chosen to Pilot Use of a Web Application and Next Generation Sequencing to Fight HCV TransmissionThe CDC estimates that between 2.7 and 3.9 million people in the United States have chronic hepatitis C. You might be familiar with the TV announcements that say at least half of those born between 1945 and 1965 don’t know they have HCV, but did you know that HCV infections have risen over 150% in teens and young adults in recent years?

An article published recently in EBioMedicine describes a new multiplex serologic assay developed by Wadsworth Center’s Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory Director, Dr. Susan Wong, in collaboration with Dr. Pei-Yong Shi of the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB). It is anticipated that this test will soon be approved for use on clinical specimens.