AACC 2022 Explores AI in Personalized Medicine, Genomic Sequencing Advances and Much More

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 26 Jul 2022

Image: AACC Clinical Lab Expo had more than 200 new product introductions this year (Photo courtesy of AACC)

At the 2022 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo, laboratory medicine experts will present the cutting-edge research and technology that is revolutionizing clinical testing and patient care. Hosted by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (Washington, DC, USA) from July 24-28 in Chicago, the meeting's 250-plus sessions will deliver insights on a broad range of timely healthcare topics. Highlights include discussions exploring the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in personalized medicine, advances in multiplexed genomic sequencing and imaging, real-life applications of human brain organogenesis, how to build trust with patients, and guiding clinical decisions with mass spectrometry.

AI in Personalized Medicine. Precision medicine involves tailoring treatments to individual patients and, increasingly, clinicians are using AI in their clinical prediction models to do this. In the meeting's opening keynote, Dr. Lucila Ohno-Machado, health associate dean of informatics and technology at the University of California San Diego, will introduce how AI models are developed, tested, and validated as well as performance measures that may help clinicians select these models for routine use.

Multiplexed Genomic Sequencing and Imaging. Thanks to advances in multiplexed genomic sequencing and imaging, we can identify small but crucial differences in DNA, RNA, proteins, and more. These techniques have also undergone a 50-million-fold reduction in cost and comparable improvements in quality since they first emerged. In spite of this, healthcare is just beginning to catch up with the implications of these technologies. Dr. George Church, AACC's 2022 Wallace H. Coulter Lectureship Awardee and founding core faculty and lead at the Synthetic Biology Wyss Institute at Harvard University, will discuss advances and implications of multiplex technologies at this plenary session.

Applications of Human Brain Organoid Technology. The human brain is a very complex biological system and is susceptible to several neurological and neurodegenerative disorders that affect millions of people worldwide. In this plenary session, Dr. Alysson R. Muotri, professor of cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, will explore the concept of human brain organogenesis, or how to recreate the human brain in a dish. Several applications of this technology in neurological care will be discussed.

Building Trust in Healthcare. The world is having a trust crisis that is affecting healthcare delivery across the globe. Dr. Thomas Lee, chief medical officer of Press Ganey Associates and professor of health policy and management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, will describe the importance of building trust among patients and healthcare workers in this plenary session. He will explore a three-component model for building trust, and the types of interventions most likely to be effective.

Guiding Clinical Decisions with Mass Spectrometry. In this, the meeting's closing keynote, Dr. Livia Schiavinato Eberlin, associate professor of surgery and director of translational and innovations research at Baylor College of Medicine, will discuss the development and application of direct mass spectrometry techniques used in clinical microbiology labs, clinical pathology labs, and the operating room. The presentation will focus on results obtained in ongoing clinical studies employing two direct mass spectrometry techniques, desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging and the MasSpec Pen technology.

Additionally, at the Clinical Lab Expo, more than 750 exhibitors will display innovative technologies that are just coming to market in every clinical lab discipline.

"Laboratory medicine's capacity to adapt to changing healthcare circumstances and use the field's scientific insights to improve quality of life is unparalleled. This capacity is constantly growing, with cutting-edge diagnostic technologies emerging every day in areas as diverse as mass spectrometry, artificial intelligence, genomic sequencing, and neurology," said AACC CEO Mark J. Golden. "The 2022 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting will shine a light on the pioneers in laboratory medicine who are mobilizing these new advances to enhance patient care."