12th -13th January 2011

Institute of Child Health, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 1EH, UK

The next SoGAT Clinical Diagnostics meeting will take place at the Institute of Child Health, London, on Wednesday 12 January 2011 (all day) and Thursday 13 January (half day, finishing at noon).  

This is an informal workshop to encourage discussion on the scientific and technical aspects of molecular diagnostics, and to promote standardisation through the development of reference materials for clinical pathogens.

It is to be held jointly with the ESCV Winter Meeting which will follow at the same venue from Thursday 13 (from 13.30 hrs) to Saturday 15 January (http://www.escvconferences.eu/).

Programme:

The final programme for the meeting is now available. To download the final programme click here. Topics include:

• Development and use of reference reagents and quality controls for the standardisation of molecular assays for clinical pathogens
• Assessing the variability and performance of molecular assays for clinical pathogens: EQAS and proficiency studies, assay comparisons and data reporting
• Technical aspects of molecular assays which impact on standardisation, including new and emerging technologies
• Regulatory issues relating to standardisation, including regulation of IVDs, and harmonisation of guidelines

Approximately 30 minutes has been set aside at the end of each session of this year’s meeting in order to encourage further discussion of key areas and current issues relevant to the standardisation of molecular diagnostic assays. This discussion will be moderated by the chair of the session to ensure that the debate remains focused and that keys issues which need to be followed up are noted. A number of topics have already been suggested by the organising committee (view here). If you would like to raise further topics for general discussion, please email your suggestion to sogat@nibsc.hpa.org.uk.

Registration:

Registration for this meeting is now closed.

Accommodation:

There are a number of hotels with close proximity to the ICH (download hotel list), for which participants must make their own reservations.

Contact details:

Please email all queries to sogat@nibsc.hpa.org.uk.