July 18, 2018 | Jennifer Dien Bard, the director of microbiology and virology at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, is featured on this podcast from the Cambridge Healthtech Institute for the Next Generation Diagnostics Summit. Dien Bard shares her insights into what the biggest challenges and opportunities are in implementing molecular point-of-care testing for infectious disease diagnostics, and rapid genetic and phenotypic susceptibility testing. Here is a sample of the discussion that takes place. Podcast
CHI: What are some of the barriers to bringing point-of-care testing for infectious diseases to the clinic, and what are some ways that you and other clinicians are approaching these?
Jennifer Dien Bard: A major driver for point-of-care testing development is the fact that it's portable, fast, simple, easy to use and you can perform in a limited infrastructure. Molecular tests for the detection of infectious agents is one of the most fastest-growing point-of-care test types that's being developed right now, and with the fact that there's improved sensitivity compared to your standard immunoassay point-of-care test that's routinely being used.
So the cost is an issue when bringing on molecular point-of-care testing. The test may be cheaper than the moderately complex molecular test offered in the clinical lab, but it's still very expensive compared to your typical lateral flow point-of-care test that clinicians are used to. I think it's important to emphasize on the improved sensitivity of the molecular point-of-care assay that is not only clinically beneficial to the patient, but it's also advantageous in negating the need to submit additional samples for confirmatory testing.