January 17, 2017
Blood: we take it for granted until we see it or, heaven forbid, lose it. Millions — including cancer patients, organ recipients, and accident victims – count on blood being at the ready. Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood, according to the American Red Cross. Yet, only 10% of eligible individuals give […]
December 21, 2016
While New Year’s celebrations might vary, all can agree that it’s a time to be grateful for the past year’s blessings and a chance to toast to hope and luck in the future. 2016 was an exciting year for the life science industry as the nation turned its focus to furthering research initiatives with important […]
August 31, 2016
Every three minutes, someone in the United States is diagnosed with a form of blood cancer, such as leukemia, lymphoma, or myeloma, and every nine minutes someone in our country dies from the disease, according to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Additionally, more than a third of blood cancer patients still do not survive […]
May 18, 2016
By Christopher Ianelli, MD, PhD, CEO, iSpecimen The HITECH Act of 2009 put into place a number of federally-funded incentives to encourage the adoption of EMRs. The benefits of EMRs are clear – fewer medical errors, more coordinated care, and ultimately, lower costs. However, the time and money associated with implementing them has proven to […]
April 27, 2016
Today, there are roughly 300,000 clinical laboratory professionals working in the United States. The daily work that these professionals do is critical to the ongoing understanding, diagnosis, and prevention of disease. But because they work mostly behind the scenes in healthcare settings, these lab professionals often go unnoticed as crucial members of the healthcare team. […]
March 7, 2016
We in the Boston area are fortunate enough to have local access to some of the best doctors, hospitals, and medical research in the nation. Our healthcare hub attracts more than 260,000 individuals from all over the world who need care each year, but with nearby hotels costing between $109 and $169 a night with […]
February 22, 2016
Since the passing of Supreme Court Justice Scalia last weekend, ‘court pundits’ have been presenting their opinions on who could be nominated next and what this could mean. Given that it is an election year, there has also been much talk about whether or not President Obama should make a nomination versus waiting until a […]
January 14, 2016
January was declared National Blood Donor Month in 1970 due to the difficulty of recruiting donors specifically during this month. Perhaps it’s the increase of cold and flu symptoms, inclement weather, or the winter blues after the holiday season or just the fact that there are 31 days, but whatever the case may be, even […]
January 7, 2016
Public comments on the recently proposed changes to the Common Rule were accepted by the Department of Health & Human Services through yesterday. Commenting has been open since early September, and without a doubt opinions are varied. Last week, two well-known public figures with regard to specimen use in research made their views known, and […]
December 17, 2015
Studying patient attitudes toward the use of biospecimens and associated data for medical research is certainly nothing new. Hundreds of studies have been conducted on patient preferences regarding the use of both clinically-derived remnant samples, collected for medical testing that are leftover once testing is complete, as well as research-derived samples, that are collected for […]