AACC 2022: A Treat to Reconnect with the Laboratory Community

This year’s topics of interest included the VALID Act, GI testing, and dual-channel multiplexing technology.

Each summer at Luminex, we look forward to the annual meeting of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC). This year’s event at the massive McCormick Place venue in Chicago didn’t disappoint; it was a much-needed opportunity for Luminex representatives to reconnect with the laboratory community and share new ideas, discuss important issues such as the looming VALID Act, and survey the latest advancements in laboratory technology.

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This year’s features

The meeting this year featured more than 275 expert speakers and an abundance of excellent educational opportunities for attendees. While much of the excitement among participants centered around the stellar sessions, we also noticed a great deal of enthusiasm about the community’s revived ability to meet at an in-person event. Networking with others in the clinical lab community is a major reason many participate in AACC each year, and it seemed attendees were eager to catch up, with attendance at post-session mixers and within the exhibit hall reaching nearly pre-pandemic levels.

The VALID Act

Naturally, the VALID Act was the subject of much discussion and at least one popular session. The bill has been working its way through Congress for several years now, and at AACC, there were experts on hand to discuss how the latest iteration of the legislation would affect laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) by requiring FDA oversight. We at Luminex are maintaining a close eye on this legislation since many of our customers design their own LDTs using our testing platforms.

Connecting through education

Other notable sessions covered a broad range of new technologies and updated approaches to clinical testing, particularly for improving diagnosis of GI-related conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and celiac disease. Our parent company, DiaSorin, sponsored an educational workshop about primary aldosteronism, a rare condition that causes hypertension and for which there are highly effective treatments when a diagnosis is possible.

Poster presentations elevate xMAP® Technology

There were several posters presenting work using Luminex xMAP’s multiplexing technology. Key topics included developing a homebrew assay for reliably quantifying vaccine-induced immune responses, and a method comparison for detecting multiple biomarkers for classification of antiphospholipid syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosus. A popular presentation was the poster from Jeff Borgia’s lab at Rush University, identifying novel autoantibody biomarkers for use in lung cancer screening with a homebrew assay in companion diagnostics.

Presenting the xMAP INTELLIFLEX®

We were also honored by the tremendous interest in

Discover the dual-channel xMAP INTELLIFLEX® System.

Many stopped by our booth to learn more about the latest generation of xMAP Technology instruments.

® System Will Empower Your Research” href=”/blog/5-ways-the-new-xmap-intelliflex-system-will-empower-your-research/”>5 Ways the New xMAP INTELLIFLEX® System Will Empower Your Research [Blog]

  • xMAP Technology: Applications in Detection of Pathogens [Publication]