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Here's to the Over-Worked, Under-Paid Worker Next to You

May 13, 2009

The swine flu scare has brought one lab need center-stage in the Wall Street Journal: the shortage of lab technicians. The WSJ reports that Vanderbilt University Hospital's lab pulled people working in other parts of the hospital and had technicians work double to handle all the flu-testing. The American Society for Clinical Pathology says that lab-tech vacancies average 50 percent in some states and the president of the American Society for Clinical Pathology adds that new workers aren't attracted to the job since the pay starts at $27,000 to $58,000, despite the education needed for the job.

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The Scan

Study Finds Few FDA Post-Market Regulatory Actions Backed by Research, Public Assessments

A Yale University-led team examines in The BMJ safety signals from the US FDA Adverse Event Reporting System and whether they led to regulatory action.

Duke University Team Develops Programmable RNA Tool for Cell Editing

Researchers have developed an RNA-based editing tool that can target specific cells, as they describe in Nature.

Novel Gene Editing Approach for Treating Cystic Fibrosis

Researchers in Science Advances report on their development of a non-nuclease-based gene editing approach they hope to apply to treat cystic fibrosis.

Study Tracks Responses in Patients Pursuing Polygenic Risk Score Profiling

Using interviews, researchers in the European Journal of Human Genetics qualitatively assess individuals' motivations for, and experiences with, direct-to-consumer polygenic risk score testing.