The Advanced Molecular Diagnostics Service (AMDS) has been continuously working on upgrading and streamlining our current clinical genomic and cancer genomic offerings to support integrated clinical care for the UCLA Health System, and to identify, support, and advance UCLA translational research into clinical use and technology transfer.

NEW BRAF TEST PLATFORM

The new BRAF V600 mutation assessment Idylla test platform has completed validation and will be launched in Q1 of 2024.

• Fully automated real-time PCR based molecular testing
• Simplified workflow with < 10 min hands on set up time
• Rapid turnaround time (1 day from sample receiving)
• Flexible sample type (FFPE slides or extracted DNA)
• Effective on limited tissue amount (as low as 1-2 FFPE slides)
• As low as 0.5-1% limit of detection variant frequency

NEW CLINICAL EXOME SEQUENCING

The improved workflow will be streamlined for sample preparation and data analysis. The new workflow will be launched in Q1 2024.

• Improved turnaround time by 3 days
• Significant improvement in accuracy for complex variants and insertions/deletions
• Improved sensitivity for SNP variants
• More robust variant interpretation
• Increased exome coverage uniformity
• Reduced cost to achieve minimal sequencing depth

SOLID TUMOR PAN-CANCER AND FUSION PANEL TESTS (LAUNCHED DECEMBER 2022)

• Optimized workflow that when the Idylla single gene test is ordered with the Pan-Cancer Panel test, no additional tissue slides are needed
• Lowered the number of tissue slides needed for the Solid Tumor Fusion Panel test from 10 to 5 slides
• Improved the overall turnaround time
• Low QNS rate: 3.1% for Fusion Panel Test and 5.7% for Pan-Cancer Panel Test

 

Thank you to our outgoing Chief Residents (left to right), Dr. Tara Narasimhalu, Dr. Precious Fortes, Dr. Arash Roohani, and Dr. Irene Riahi. We appreciate all your hard work, advocacy for your fellow Trainees, and dedication to patient care!

 

We also welcome our incoming Chief Residents Dr. Josh Pierce (Ombuds), Dr. Erica Fermon (Scheduling), Dr. Rosa Valencia (Conference), and Dr. Rak Tyagi (Technical). We look forward to working with you in your new roles!

 

As part of the inaugural Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service | I Have a Dream in STEM Conference, hosted in partnership with the DGSOM JEDI Office and the Department of Medicine’s Community Engagement Office, our Department hosted a Mini Pathologist's Playlab (MPP) workshop for elementary-aged learners from the Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) and I Have A Dream Foundation. The MPP consisted of six interactive stations spanning anatomic and clinical pathology, allowing learners to interact with Microscopes and slides, Organ Blocks, Agar Plates, Parasites, replica Blood and Plasma, and even a replica Urine Station!

Thank you to our dedicated volunteers who arranged this event on limited notice! Your altruism and commitment to education and our community are evident in the event's great success! A special thank you to Dr. Chana Sachs, Dr. Weibo Yu, Dr. Mario Pulido, Dr. Erica Fermon, Dr. Chao Chen, Dr. Danny Rodriguez, Dr. Yuna Kang, Dr. David Lu, Dr. Dawn Ward, Toshi Ching, Monique Trinh, Jessica Martinez, and the Pathology Facilities team!

(Left) Dr. Chana Sachs, Dr. David Lu, and Dr. Danny Rodriguez at the Microscope & Slide station. (Right) Dr. Mario Pulido at the Parasite station.

Dr. Dawn Ward and Dr. Erica Fermon at the replica Blood, Plasma, and Urine Station.

(Left to Right) Our Department Volunteers: Dr. Dawn Ward, Dr. Mario Pulido, Toshi Ching, Dr. David Lu, Dr. Danny Rodriguez, Dr. Erica Fermon, Monique Trinh, Jessica Martinez, Dr. Chao Chen, Dr. Chana Sachs, and Dr. Weibo Yu.

Congratulations to Drs. Jasmine Zhou, Sam French, Wenyuan Li, Weihua Zeng, Sarah Dry, & collaborators on being awarded grants from the National cancer Institute to advance liquid biopsy technologies for the early detection of cancer.

Dr. Allison Chambliss visited Capital Hill, on behalf of Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine, to advocate for maintaining CLIA oversight of laboratory developed tests and for funding to establish national pediatric reference intervals.

Dr. Shaun Yang gives tips on how to stay healthy this holiday season via UCLA Health News.

Congratulations to Dr. Gay Crooks & collaborators on their article featured in Nature Biomedical Engineering "Generation of antigen-specific mature T cells from RAG1−/−RAG2−/−B2M−/− stem cells by engineering their microenvironment."

The Daily Bruin featured the Blood & Platelet Center in the article "UCLA Blood and Platelet Processing Lab ensures patients receive healthy blood."

 

Please consider your life-saving donation today!

Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Dry and Dr. Laura Collins (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School) on their editorial "Gender Distribution in Pathology Journal Editorial Boards: A Call to Action."

Congratulations to Fellow Dr. Kene Ojukwu on receiving an APC Society of ’67 Pathology Trainee Project Grant in Health Services Education for her project “Pathology for Surgeons.” This innovative initiative fosters collaboration between the pathology and surgery departments, while integrating the expertise of our ambulatory surgery operating room nurses in an interdisciplinary manner. The project takes advantage of the valuable specimen safety events data collected by the UCLA surgical specimen workgroup team and is supported and under the guidance of the Quality Leadership Committee of the Pathology Department.

Thank you to all those who participated in the Homeless Healthcare Collaborative putting together care packages. This year, with all the volunteers, the hygiene kits were assembled in record time! Pictured from left to right: Beshoi Nashed (Post Junior Fellow), Dr. Allison Chambliss, Dr. Bita Naini, Monique Trinh, Dr. Andrea McGonigle, Dr. Sarah Dry, and Jennifer Zhang.

We are pleased to announce Dr. Jitin Makker has been appointed as the Director of AP Informatics as of January 1, 2024. He will work closely with Dr. Steve Hart to ensure a smooth transition.

Dr. Makker joined the UCLA Department of Pathology as Clinical Informaticist/Surgical Pathologist in 2022. He obtained his medical degree from India from Sarojini Naidu Medical College, Agra. He completed his anatomic and clinical pathology residency at University of Southern California. Dr. Makker completed a combined Clinical Informatics and Surgical Pathology fellowship and a Quality Improvement in Healthcare fellowship at UCLA in the Division of Digestive Diseases. Prior to residency, he did clinical research in gastroenterology. Passionate about the intersection of healthcare and technology, his interests span data analytics, digital pathology, and leveraging informatics tools for workflow enhancement. In his informatics research, he explores innovative techniques, including natural language processing and machine learning tools, to extract valuable insights from data. 

We would like to thank Dr. Hart for all his hard work, dedication, and commitment to AP Informatics. We are grateful that he will help Dr. Makker transition into his new role.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Makker to this role!

AP Referral Lab Services Supervisor Announcement – Toshi Ching

Congratulations to Toshi Ching, on being promoted to AP Referral Lab Services Supervisor on 11/13/2023.

Toshi has BS degree in Medical Microbiology with a minor in Chemistry. She began working in pathology 30 years ago in the Microbiology Lab at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, first as a student worker, then as Lab Assistant. After 10 years in the industry, in 2011, she joined UCLA as a Lab Assistant the Santa Monica Pathology Gross Room. Most recently, Toshi has been working as a Hospital Lab Tech 2, processing referral lab tissue sendouts, where she has played a pioneering role in the formation and expansion of the AP Referral Lab Services unit. Toshi is also a staff representative Co-Chair on the Department's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee.

We look forward to working with Toshi in her new role and wish her success in her continuing career with UCLA!

IHC Supervisor Announcement – Inna Lozovskaya

Congratulations to Inna Lozovskaya on being promoted to Immunohistochemistry Supervisor effective 12/11/23. 

Inna started her career after completing her education in Medical Lab Technology in Kiev, Ukraine. She has over 30 years of experience in Pathology and has worked in the IHC lab for 18 years.  She has extensive experience performing IHC, troubleshooting and validating new assays.

We look forward to working with Inna in her new role and wish her success in her continuing career with UCLA!

Histology Supervisor Announcement – Christina Htay

Congratulations to Christina Htay, aka Sandy Htay, on being promoted to Histology Supervisor effective 12/11/23.  

Sandy has BS degrees in medical science and medical technology.  She has been a histotechnologist in the UCLA Histology Lab for 20 years, acting as Lead Histotechnologist in recent years.  She has specialized in eye pathology, developed new special staining protocols, and shared her extensive knowledge to develop other technicians.

We look forward to working with Christina in her new role and wish her success in her continuing career with UCLA!