Quality matters in strengthening global laboratory medicine

Quality control is one of the three cyclical quality assurance activities that help keep a system under statistical control. Typical quality control activities include creating quality control charts, conducting proficiency testing, and documenting and archiving results.
Quality control helps track data, visualize trends, and identify variations, making it easier to detect deviations that may affect the accuracy of an analysis. One way to do this is by generating a quality control chart, which...

Aseptic techniques prevent contamination, ensure experimental accuracy, and protect researchers and microbial cultures. These techniques are essential in clinical, industrial, and research settings where sterility is required.Maintaining Sterility in Laboratory PracticesScientists maintain sterility by sterilizing tools with heat or chemicals, disinfecting work surfaces, and handling cultures in controlled environments. Working near an open flame or within a laminar flow hood reduces the risk...

Method validation is a crucial process in analytical chemistry designed to confirm that a given method consistently produces reliable and high-quality results. This process is essential when a method is applied to different sample matrices or when procedural modifications are made, ensuring that the results meet acceptable standards across various applications.
Key parameters for method validation include:

Quality assurance is the overarching term used to describe the activities employed to ensure the proper performance of a system. These activities can be classified into three categories: quality control, quality assessment, and internal corrective measures. Typically, these activities work cyclically: quality control is performed before and during the analysis, while quality assessment occurs during and after the investigation. Internal corrective measures are implemented based on the findings...

Advancements in molecular biology have revolutionized the identification and characterization of bacteria, with multiple methods leveraging DNA sequencing for enhanced precision. As sequencing technologies improve and costs decline, these approaches are increasingly used in clinical, environmental, and evolutionary studies.Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) examines several housekeeping genes, essential chromosomal genes encoding cellular functions, to distinguish strains. Approximately...