LynxDx, a Michigan diagnostics laboratory specializing in prostate cancer screening and risk prediction, acquired liquid handling solutions from INTEGRA Biosciences to streamline its sample preparation for high throughput COVID-19 testing.
The lab is now in the process of moving these products over to prostate cancer screening, where they are helping to improve result accuracy and turnaround times and, ultimately, support timely diagnosis and treatment. LynxDx performs prostate cancer screening using its proprietary MyProstateScore 2.0 (MPS2) approach, a non-invasive urine test that detects the presence of 18 genetic biomarkers linked to prostate cancer. MPS2 utilizes a cohort-specific algorithm to optimize diagnostic accuracy and provide clinical flexibility for biopsy naïve patients and patients with a prior negative biopsy, providing highly accurate and specific insights that can reduce the frequency of unnecessary and potentially high-risk biopsies.
In early 2020, LynxDx adopted four VIAFLO 96 handheld electronic pipettes and four VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipettes from INTEGRA to allow it to quickly transition over to high-volume COVID-19 testing. Dr. Jacob Meyers, Senior Scientist of Research and Development at LynxDx, explained: “We chose INTEGRA’s VIAFLO 96 and VOYAGER pipettes because we needed robust and reliable systems that would allow us to consistently handle large numbers of highly variable saliva samples for accurate and rapid results. These versatile products played a key role in enabling us to maintain short turnaround times for COVID-19 testing, as well as to manage an increased workload as our cancer screening operations have gradually got back on track over the recent months.”
We’re already using the VOYAGER pipettes in our cancer screening workflow, and we’re currently performing validation of the VIAFLO 96 pipettes for this application. We’d also like to acquire additional INTEGRA products in the near future, as these pipetting solutions will allow us to further streamline and automate our liquid handling workflows in preparation for the diagnostic needs of the future,” Jacob concluded.
Visit the INTEGRA Biosciences website to learn more.