Medical Error: The Third Leading Killer of Americans

How to reduce preventable harms with sample to answer systems

Medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States, after heart disease and cancer. A 2013 study estimated nearly 400,000 premature deaths occur each year due to preventable harm in hospitals, which is up fourfold since the seminal 1999 Institute of Medicine report that first catalyzed the discussion about patient injuries in healthcare. With medical errors on the rise, what is being done to reduce them?

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Shooting for the Moon – Proteogenomics – The Next Leap in Precision Cancer Care

APOLLO links proteomic and genomic analysis to develop more effective oncology treatment plans

The Cancer Moonshot is a mission that all of us #CanServe according to Vice President Joe Biden. Announced at the State of the Union address in January 2016, the program aims to double the rate of progress toward a cure for cancer through increased collaboration and investment. Most recently the Applied Proteogenomics Organizational Learning and Outcomes (APOLLO) Network was established, and will combine point-of-care genomic and proteomic analysis in hopes of matching a patient’s tumor types to targeted therapies. A cohort of 8,000 patients undergoing treatment for lung cancer, as part of the Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) healthcare systems, will be routinely screened at oncologist appointments with the goal of identifying treatment plans that are more effective based on patient’s unique proteogenomic profile.

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DigiWest®: Reimaging Western Blotting on the Proteomic Scale

A novel high-throughput protein analysis approach utilizing a bead-based microarray platform

The Western blot has been a staple in the molecular biology tool kit for nearly 40 years. While at Stanford, George Stark was the first to describe the transfer of proteins by capillary action from a gel onto diazobenzyloxymethyl-paper, submitting his work to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in April 1979.

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