Phlebotomy News and Research

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Phlebotomy is the drawing of blood, a phlebotomist is someone with special training to do. However, in many countries other healthcare professionals are also capable of drawing blood (e.g. doctors, nurses, laboratory and emergency medical technicians).

Researchers validate Mpox antibody test during outbreak in Rwanda

An antibody test for the infectious disease Mpox was successfully developed during the new clade 1b outbreak in Rwanda, the first time that an assay of its kind has been validated within this setting.

9 Mar 2026

Researchers show red blood cells drive better glucose tolerance at high altitude

Chronic hypoxia improves glucose tolerance in mice through insulin-independent mechanisms, with red blood cells acting as a major systemic glucose sink. Increased erythrocyte production and altered glycolytic flux help reduce circulating glucose while supporting oxygen delivery to tissues.

22 Feb 2026

Hypoxia rewires red blood cells to clear excess glucose

In a 2023 paper on hypoxia and glucose metabolism, our lab showed how organisms rewire their metabolism to adapt to low oxygen levels-such as those found at high altitudes.

19 Feb 2026

Automated system relies on imaging droplets of biofluids for disease diagnosis

Not long ago, the idea of diagnosing a disease with a droplet of blood was considered a pipe dream. Today, this technology could soon become a reality.

19 Nov 2025

Mayo Clinic launches study to investigate rapidly progressive dementia in Alzheimer's

Most patients with Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementias (ADRD) experience the gradual onset and progression of cognitive symptoms, leading to decline over years or decades.

1 Apr 2025

New research explores hidden health risks of hereditary hemochromatosis

A study links undetected diabetes in hemochromatosis patients to increased mortality, highlighting the need for early detection and revised clinical guidelines.

11 Dec 2024

Regulating iron overload: Liraglutide's potential benefits

Researchers assess the role of liraglutide in regulating iron metabolism in a mouse model of hereditary hemochromatosis.

30 Sep 2024

Lipid metabolism plays a critical role in red blood cell recovery from acute anemia

Red blood cells are the most abundant cells in the body. It has long been known that when red blood cells break down or anemia occurs due to bleeding, the hormone erythropoietin (EPO) increases, leading to the proliferation of immature cells (erythroblasts) that eventually become red blood cells, thus restoring the red blood cell count.

20 Sep 2024

Novel treatment for polycythemia vera shows promise in clinical trial

A novel treatment for polycythemia vera, a potentially fatal blood cancer, demonstrated the ability to control overproduction of red blood cells, the hallmark of this malignancy and many of its debilitating symptoms in a multi-center clinical trial led by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

21 Feb 2024

Hormone therapy for transmasculine individuals may be safer than previously thought

A common concern about gender-affirming hormone therapy for transmasculine people is the risk of red blood cell volume changes and erythrocytosis, a high concentration of red blood cells, with the use of prescribed testosterone.

27 Nov 2023

Overweight people have a different vitamin D metabolism

A new study in JAMA Network Open aimed to determine whether BMI is capable of modifying vitamin D metabolism as well as response to supplementation.

18 Jan 2023

PerkinElmer’s Oxford Immunotec receives U.S. FDA approval for T-cell select to automate clinically superior tuberculosis detection

PerkinElmer’s (NYSE: PKI) Oxford Immunotec today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of the T-Cell Select™ reagent kit for the automation of its T-SPOT®.TB test workflow for in vitro diagnostic (IVD) use by certified laboratories.

From Oxford Immunotec 6 Oct 2022

Study reports robust immunity to SARS-CoV-2 including Omicron BA.1 for all three primary vaccines

In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* pre-print server, researchers in the United Kingdom investigated the effect of two Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine doses or Oxford/AstraZeneca AZ1222 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination and a subsequent BNT162b2 booster dose in a cohort of healthcare workers (HCWs) over six to nine months.

10 Jun 2022

COMBINEDBrain Biorepository: A comprehensive approach to speed research for rare diseases

COMBINEDBrain puts advocacy groups in the driver's seat in the race to cure rare neurodevelopmental diseases. Patient advocacy foundations representing more than thirty rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorders join forces as part of COMBINEDBrain to make it faster to do research on their disorders.

30 Mar 2022

40 new one-stop-shops for checks, scans and tests set to open across England

Millions of patients will benefit from earlier diagnostic tests closer to home thanks to 40 new Community Diagnostic Centres set to open across England in a range of settings from local shopping centers to football stadiums.

30 Sep 2021

Study reveals cellular basis of antigen-specific response to Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine

Researchers in the United States have provided important insights into the antigen-specific cellular response and evolving humoral (antibody) response to messenger RNA- (mRNA) based vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

29 Jul 2021

An assay capable of detecting SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in breast milk and other samples

In a recent study by US researchers (currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server), a specific immunoassay based on the spike glycoprotein’s receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is not only well suited for the detection of antibody response after infection and vaccination but may also represent a method of choice when conducting seroepidemiological studies.

19 Jul 2021

Readers and tweeters dispense timely advice for difficult times

Your body’s immune system has produced antibodies that will kill a few thousand kinds of germs and virus. Since you are alive, the chances are quite high you will survive its producing another. Here is how the system works.

2 Mar 2021

COVID-19 pandemic has led to a decrease in hospital-wide HCV testing

New research from Boston Medical Center finds that the COVID-19 emergency systemic changes made to decrease in-person visits during the pandemic have led to a decrease in hospital-wide Hepatitis C (HCV) testing by 50 percent, and a reduction in new HCV diagnoses by more than 60 percent.

4 Dec 2020

Consortium compiles recommendations for measuring HIV reservoir size in cure-directed studies

Spearheaded by scientists at The Wistar Institute, top worldwide HIV researchers from the BEAT-HIV Martin Delaney Collaboratory to Cure HIV-1 Infection by Combination Immunotherapy compiled the first comprehensive set of recommendations on how to best measure the size of persistent HIV reservoirs during cure-directed clinical studies.

7 Sep 2020