The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health publishes the magazine Quarterly.

The latest issue has two stories highlighting Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene work in Communicable Disease and in Genetics.

 

Survey of the Health of Wisconsin Pivots to Collect Valuable Statewide COVID-19 Data 

 

Undiagnosed Genetic Disease Program and Clinic Catalyze Advances in Genomics and Personalized Medicine

 

Heather Barkholtz, assistant professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy and the WSLH Forensic Toxicology section, was awarded a $270,000+ grant from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the research, development and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The research project is entitled Illuminating the Dark: Molecular Networking as a Novel Psychoactive Substance Identification Strategy.

According to Dr. Barkholtz –

“Illicit use of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) such as ‘spice’ and ‘bath salts’ have become increasingly popular among drug users. When a NPS emerges, its chemical structure is not known to forensic toxicologists seeking to detect them in impaired drivers, drug-facilitated crimes, overdose incidents, etc. When these NPS go undetected in forensic laboratories, public health, law enforcement, and medical professionals do not have complete information from which to make decisions.

“This project aims to use a new mass spectrometry data analysis technique called the Global Natural Product Social (GNPS) Molecular Networking interactive online data curation and analysis infrastructure to enable rapid identification of emerging NPS.

“The GNPS platform can be thought of as a dynamic, accessible, living toolkit and database for identification of previously unknown chemical structures in high-resolution mass spectrometry data. This work will demonstrate GNPS as a solution to high-resolution challenges in mass spectrometry data analysis and identification of NPS faced by the forensic community.”

Please note the following changes to the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene’s operations due to the observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday.

The table below lists the hours of operations for our Clinical Specimen Receiving departments.

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

 

The photographers for UW Communications chose their favorite photos of 2021 and Bryce Richter’s photo below of WisCon Consultant Danica Harrier and Program Manager Ernie Stracener made the cut.

In the photo Danica and Ernie are demonstrating an N95 respirator fit testing kit WisCon developed for long-term care facilities to use during the pandemic.

WSLH Senior Data Scientist Kelsey Florek sat down for an interview with ASBMB Today, the member magazine of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, to talk about what bioinformatics is, Kelsey’s work at the WSLH, and her career journey.

Read the interview

 

In accordance with Wis. 343.305, the WSLH provides specimen collection kits to law enforcement agencies, hospitals and clinics for the purpose of an OWI investigation. The contract with the current OWI kit vendor has expired and a new contract has been awarded to a new vendor.

As of January 1, 2022, the WSLH will be using Tritech, a commercial supplier, to assemble and ship the OWI blood kits. The kit components will look slightly different but will remain the same in terms of function, quality and integrity. The ordering process may be completed using the Tritech ordering link.

Please read this memo for more information.

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.

NOTE: Our Environmental Health Division will NOT be accepting samples on Dec. 24th or Dec. 31st.

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

 

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) has added, by emergency rule, screening for Pompe disease to the Wisconsin Newborn Screening Program’s panel of conditions. This rule will go into effect once it is published in the Wisconsin State Journal, which is expected to occur on January 10, 2022.

For more information on this rule and Pompe disease, please read this joint WI DHS and WSLH letter.

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene will be closed on Thursday, November 25, 2021 for the Thanksgiving holiday.

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

 

 

 

UW Oshkosh graduate student Sarah Woody spent this past summer looking at heavy metal concentrations in sediment, plant and muskrat tissue at Horicon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge. Sarah collaborated with Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene Trace Elements Clean Lab (TECL) scientists to perform the sample processing and analysis for her research.

See Sarah in her waders collecting samples in the Marsh and in her lab coat in the TECL in this video produced by UW Oshkosh