In this webinar, Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) Virology Team Lead Erik Reisdorf reviews the basics of seasonal and pandemic influenza, what we expect to happen this flu season, and the importance of surveillance activities at the WSLH. Reisdorf also discusses common misconceptions about influenza.

Webinar link (plays best in Internet Explorer) – https://slhstream2.ad.slh.wisc.edu/Mediasite/Play/04ed6b246b594990ab31fa6e0e0164b11d

 

 

 

Please note the following changes to the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene’s operations due to the observance of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

The table below lists the hours of operations for our Clinical Specimen Receiving department. We will have staffing to accept clinical specimens at both our 2601 Agriculture Drive and our 465 Henry Mall facilities.

As always, if you have an off-hours emergency, please call the WSLH Emergency Pager at 608-263-3280.

 

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been chosen as the central analytical laboratory and program office for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP).

The NADP serves public and environmental health, science, education and agriculture by monitoring North America’s precipitation and atmosphere for a range of chemicals and uses that data to determine both time and space trends for concentration and deposition.

NADP is a cooperative effort between many different groups including federal, state, and local governmental agencies, tribal governments, educational institutions, private companies, and non-governmental agencies which provide funding, scientific, and technical support. Funding comes from monitoring site participants and the following federal agencies: National Park Service, US Geological Survey, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, Bureau of Land Management, Environmental Protection Agency, US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, and Agricultural Research Service.

“NADP is the international gold standard for long-term, high quality air pollutant monitoring and has been in operation for 40 years. The program aligns quite well with both the WSLH’s mission as well as the Wisconsin Idea,” said WSLH Director and UW-Madison Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Jamie Schauer.

As the central analytical laboratory and program office, the WSLH will provide pre-analytic services, analytic testing and post-analytic results and data analysis for samples from 300+ monitoring sites across the country. Data is made publicly available. The program office at the WSLH will work with NADP committees on network operations, science, education, and outreach activities.

The NADP central analytical laboratory and program office have been housed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The transition to the WSLH will occur over the next few months.

“The WSLH is a lab with an outstanding reputation for excellence. We are pleased that the program office and central analytical laboratory will be able to remain together in a single institution and are excited about the potential to build new connections within the University of Wisconsin,” said Tamara Blett, Chair, NADP Executive Committee.

Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene Medical Director and University of Wisconsin Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Daniel Kurtycz, MD, has been elected to lead the American Society of Cytopathology (ASC).

The ASC is a 3,000 member national professional society of physicians, cytotechnologists and scientists dedicated to the cytologic method of diagnostic pathology.

Dr. Kurtycz was installed as Vice President at the ASC annual meeting in November 2017. In 2018 he will become President-Elect and in 2019 he will become President. His three-year leadership term will end in November 2020. Kurtycz most recently served as ASC’s Secretary-Treasurer.

 

 

 

WSLH Cytotechnology Certificate Program Director Michele Smith was elected to the ASC Executive Board for a three-year term. She will join the Board at the November annual meeting. Smith is also the Program Manager for the University of Wisconsin’s Master of Science in Biotechnology Program.

 

WisContext – an online multimedia news and information service of Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television and UW Cooperative Extension – used excerpts from Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) Forensic Toxicologist Lori Edward’s talk earlier this year to highlight “The Volatile Mix of Drugs at Work in the Opioid Crisis”.

Edward’s talk – “Heroin and Other Opioids: A Wisconsin Epidemic?” – in April 2017 was part of University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wednesday Nite @ the Lab series. She covered the current issues and trends associated with heroin and other opioids in Wisconsin, including the history of the opium plant, manufacturing process, and the pharmacological effects of heroin and other opioids on the human body. In addition, case studies of individuals driving under the influence of heroin or other opioids were discussed.

Watch an archived webcast of her talk — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Ctvql69Dk

 

WisContext Series on “The Opioid Epidemic in Wisconsin”

WisContext is running a series of stories on opioid use in Wisconsin – http://www.wiscontext.org/opioid-epidemic-wisconsin

Series stories featuring the WSLH:

“New Synthetic Opioids Test Limits Of Wisconsin’s Drug Analysis” – http://www.wiscontext.org/new-synthetic-opioids-test-limits-wisconsins-drug-analysis

“To Identify Elusive Opioids, Labs Pursue More Sensitive Equipment” – http://www.wiscontext.org/identify-elusive-opioids-labs-pursue-more-sensitive-equipment

“Synthetic Opioids Have Public Health And Medical Investigators Playing Catch-Up” – https://www.wiscontext.org/synthetic-opioids-have-public-health-and-medical-investigators-playing-catch

“Wisconsin’s First Responders Take Steps To Avoid Opioid Exposure On The Job” – https://www.wiscontext.org/wisconsins-first-responders-take-steps-avoid-opioid-exposure-job

“The Toxicology Mysteries Posed By Synthetic Opioids” – https://www.wiscontext.org/toxicology-mysteries-posed-synthetic-opioids

“Occupational Risks To People Encountering Opioids On The Job” – https://www.wiscontext.org/occupational-risks-people-encountering-opioids-job

“The Volatile Mix of Drugs at Work in the Opioid Crisis” – https://www.wiscontext.org/volatile-mix-drugs-work-opioid-crisis

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene will be closed on Thursday, November 23, for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Our Specimen Receiving departments will observe the following hours of operation for the Thanksgiving holiday:

 

 

 

On Nov. 6^th, WSLH Communicable Disease Division Director Dr. Pete Shult gave a talk on “Responding to Emerging Infectious Disease Threats – The Role of the WSLH and its Laboratory Networks” as part of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health Population Health Sciences Monday seminar series.

Shult’s talk focused on the role and capabilities of the WSLH in surveillance for, and response to, infectious disease threats of particular public health importance. He also discussed the roles of the mission-critical statewide clinical laboratory network that the WSLH coordinates and the national networks in which the WSLH participates and maintains a leadership role.

Video of talk –  http://videos.med.wisc.edu/videos/78899

The collaborative nature of public health was on display at the WSLH Newborn Screening Laboratory in October as Dr. Ellen Stevens from the North Carolina Public Health Laboratory (NCPHL) spent a week learning the next-generation sequencing assay the WSLH performs for cystic fibrosis (CF) screening.

Last year the vendor that produced the type of assay the North Carolina lab was using for CF screening testing decided to remove it from the market due to quality issues. NCPHL needed help quickly to continue CF screening and the WSLH stepped up since we use the next-generation sequencing method and weren’t affected. Dr. Stevens’ Wisconsin visit was to learn this testing method and reporting process to help NCPHL establish it in-house.

According to WSLH Newborn Screening Laboratory Co-Director Dr. Mei Baker, the Wisconsin and North Carolina newborn screening programs have worked together for many years.

“Our helping them this past year is just a continuation of our long-time collaboration,” Dr. Baker said.

“Mei and the WSLH staff have been amazing at helping us get going on next-gen sequencing for CF,” Dr. Stevens notes. “Public health is all about helping each other to help people.”

Dr. Stevens is the current APHL-Ronald H. Laessig Newborn Screening Fellow.

Dr. Laessig was WSLH Director from 1980–2006 and a national leader in newborn screening. After his death in 2009, the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) created the fellowship in his honor.

WSLH Newborn Screening Laboratory Co-Director Dr. Patrice Held was the first Laessig fellow.

 

 

Scientists from NeoGen Labs in Bangalore, India, spent a week in September at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) Newborn Screening Laboratory learning about Wisconsin’s testing and reporting processes.

NeoGen scientists Dr. Ruby Poickaranparambil Babu, consultant biochemist, and Aggunda Channa Poornima, senior manager for laboratory operations, came to Wisconsin to learn about validating test assays and determining result cutoffs, routine testing workflow, troubleshooting, quality control, and assay result interpretation and reporting.

“We hope to increase the scope of tests we offer in India and the Wisconsin newborn screening lab is the standard we want to compare ourselves to,” explains Dr. Babu. “The Wisconsin newborn screening lab is known internationally and we came to learn about processes we could implement in our lab to help us improve.”

NeoGen has been performing newborn screening in India for 10 years. Currently, the lab screens between 25,000 – 30,000 babies a year for 57 disorders.

The scientific information exchange was very productive according to Poornima.

“We’ve learned a lot and want to take back some of these best practices.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) Communicable Disease Division Director Dr. Peter Shult gave a talk on emerging infectious diseases at the Wisconsin Hospital Association’s Emergency Preparedness Conference on Sept. 20^th.

In addition to discussing infectious disease threats, Dr. Shult also highlighted the vital role that Wisconsin’s clinical and hospital laboratories play in emergency response and disease surveillance. The WSLH coordinates the 130+ member Wisconsin Clinical Laboratory Network (WCLN).

Video of Dr. Shult’s talk — https://youtu.be/nsczEyUrpcU