Communications and Publications Division (CPD) of the IFCC
Editor: Tahir Pillay, MB ChB, PhD, FRCPath (Lon), FCPath (SA)
Department of Chemical Pathology, University of Pretoria, South Africa
E-mail: enews@ifcc.org

International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine

N° 1 – February 2018

In t h is issue Welcome message from the IFCC President

3 IFCC eNews to be published ten times per year4 Successful 14th International Congress of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine in Durban

5 How can you explain traceability in laboratory medicine to your clinician users?

9

 Poster awards at IFCC WorldLab 2017 Durban

10 Accreditation of medical laboratories – success for the 50% cap

11 NEWS FROM REGIONAL FEDERATIONS AND MEMBER SOCIETIESSociety of Clinical Biology (SFBC) National Congress
Frenchon advances in cancer biology

12from Mexico (CMCLC): 2nd Regional Symposium of Diabesity
News


13

from Pakistan: guest lecture on diagnosis of lysosomal storage diseases
News


15

Greetingsfrom the new EFLM President

16

EFLM

Executive Board 2018-201917

to the EFLM publication list
Updates


19

The

XI Uruguayan Congress of Clinical Biochemistry20 IFCC PROFESSIONAL SCIENTIFIC EXCHANGE PROGRAMME (PSEP)
My experience in Padua, Italy IFCC's Calendar of Congresses, Conferences & Events

21
23

Welcome message from the IFCC President
by Howard Morris
IFCC President
It is a great pleasure to present my welcome message to all our
national society and corporate member colleagues. It is yourexpertise and dedication to improve health outcomes for patients and communities that are the greatest strengths of the
IFCC. I very much look forward to working closely with you andtogether facing the opportunities and challenges for laboratory
medicine over this next period. It is your expertise which gives
me great confidence that we will continue to develop the quality and performance of laboratory medicine to meet the futureneeds of our patients and the healthcare system.

Prof. Howard Morris

Laboratory medicine currently faces significant challenges someof which confront all the healthcare disciplines. However weface particular issues arising from the perception of laboratory
medicine as merely a service provider rather than a driver for
optimal healthcare. Clinical laboratories are being required toassume increased responsibilities for service provision and patient safety with ever decreasing budgets. Financial constraints
also impact our corporate members, moderating their ability tocollaborate in professional development and, at the same time,
the academic basis of laboratory medicine is diminishing.

Professional leadership has never been more vital to provide strategies for improving the crucial role of laboratory medicine in patient care. Such leadership is provided by the IFCC, our regional federations and our nationalsocieties. We work in this field together and each of our organizations plays an essential role at the different
levels of engagement. Clearly communication is critical and the interactions between the IFCC and the regional
federations will now be markedly enhanced with the inclusion of representatives of each of the regional federations on the IFCC Executive Board. The IFCC General Conference, this year being held in November, provides further opportunity between the national society representatives, regional federations and IFCC Officers to engage
in discussions and debate on the key issues currently facing laboratory medicine.
As President I look forward to extending the work of the IFCC in a range of important areas.
Technologies relevant to clinical laboratory practice are rapidly emerging from academic and industry researchlaboratories and being adopted by highly specialized scientists within clinical laboratories. But their full benefits
for patient care cannot be realized until they are translated to areas capable of high-throughput processing for
medical tests and meeting performance criteria for accreditation purposes. The Emerging Technologies Division(ETD) is a new addition to the IFCC functional units and is responsible for identifying and assessing emerging
technologies and translating the emerging and disruptive diagnostic and data analysis procedures from academic laboratories to clinical laboratories and from clinical laboratories to routine practice.
Improving clinical laboratory performance through standardization and traceability as it impacts on the rationaluse of clinical laboratory resources continues to be a major focus of the Scientific Division. This work will be
Article continued on next page3

enhanced by the IFCC hosting the International Consortium for Harmonization of Clinical Laboratory Results(ICHCLR) which will improve the close working relationships between IFCC, ICHCLR and the Joint Committee
for Traceability in Laboratory medicine (JCTLM) during the next triennium. A major challenge is to extend these
activities to regions in which the current multi-national In-Vitro Diagnostic industry members are not necessarily
the major providers of clinical laboratory instruments and reagents, such as in the Asia Pacific and Central andSouth American regions. Major achievements have been made in this field only with the close collaborationof the IFCC with relevant institutions in Europe (European Commission - Joint Research Centre) and the USA(National Institute of Science and Technology). During 2018 these collaborations will extend to China (National
Institute for Food and Drug Control). We look forward to continuing this important work in collaboration withthese important institutions.
IFCC educational and training activities capable of meeting the needs of both developing and developed communities across general laboratory medicine subjects, specialised services and clinical laboratory management havelong been a high priority for IFCC. It is most gratifying that this work will be enhanced through the joint effortsof the Education and Management Division and Communications and Publications Division with the promotionof eLearning facilities and opportunities. These electronic resources will be available to clinical laboratory practitioners around the world with internet access.
As discussed above, laboratory medicine faces particular challenges and it is important that as a profession we
improve our ability to present a coherent strategy to our clinical colleagues, to healthcare managers and thosepaying for medical tests such as insurers and governments. Closer interactions between international organisations representing the various disciplines of laboratory medicine will greatly assist common engagement by our
profession with these stakeholders. Of particular interest in these collaborations will be value of medical tests inorder to demonstrate to all stakeholders in healthcare that laboratory medicine can be a driver of optimal andfinancially sustainable healthcare delivery.
I look forward to working directly with many of you over the next triennium and particularly hope we can meetat the IFCC General Conference being held in Budapest in November. I welcome any suggestions to improve ourorganization and activities.
Best wishes,
Prof. Howard Morris
IFCC President

IFCC eNews to be published ten times per year
Following discussions at the IFCC Executive Board, the Communications andPublications Division has decided to increase the number of newsletters annually to ten issues per year, from six annually.
This will affect the deadlines for publication–with now ten deadlines, instead of
the previous six–but will increase the frequency of news items, especially with
time-sensitive events.

4

Successful 14th International Congress of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine
in Durban, South Africa – Record number of scholarships and merit awards,
diverse global representation, novel scientific program, and charity for children
by Sharon M. Geaghan
on behalf of the IFCC Task Force on Paediatric Laboratory Medicine

Aerial view of the Durban, South Africa coastline (courtesy of Grant Pitcher)

The IFCC’s Task Force on Paediatric Laboratory Medicine organized its 14th successful Congress in Durban, South Africa, proffering new levels of scholarshipgrants and research awards, while continuing to attract global delegate representation, offer scientificnovelty in programming, and provide charity for local
children. One of the Task Force Committee’s primarygoals was to insure the Congress would be accessible, particularly for African colleagues. The Congressreceived 120 registered participants, and approximately a quarter (of 74 delegates) were African. The
delegates represented a diversity of scientific communities around the globe: Algeria, Australia, Bolivia,
Canada, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan,
Lithuania, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia,
Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and theUnited States.

Choir: The Key of Hope children's choir performed at theOpening Ceremony for the Paediatric Congress in Durban

Article continued on next page5

Scholarship grants were key to insuring accessibility,
and we are grateful to the Society for the Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism (SSIEM) for their generous
support of 22 educational grants. SSIEM, founded in
1963, aims to foster the study of inherited metabolic
disorders. It has over 1400 members and is truly international, with representation from more than 75
countries. A registered charity in the UK, the SSIEM
publishes The Journal of Inherited Metabolic Disorders (see ssiem.org).The Society also monitors training in pediatric metabolic medicine on behalf of theEuropean Academy of Paediatrics. Dr. Timothy Lang
was instrumental in securing the travel grants, € 500
each, which were allocated to support individuals withinterest in inherited metabolic disease. After publicity
and recruitment of candidates through calls for applications by the Task Force, the Organizing Committee
was able to offer every applicant a grant this year.

IFCC Task Force for Pediatric Laboratory Medicine
L-R (front): Tim Lang, Vijay Grey, Tze Ping Loh,
Magdalena Turzyniecka, Sharon Geaghan, Klaus Kohse;
L-R (back): Martin Hersberg, Tahir Pillay

A larger number of monetary research prizes wasa notable feature of this year’s Congress, which included Best Poster prize for Corey Markus and team(Singapore, Australia) for “Derivation of data-driven,outcome-based critical values”; and second-place finalist Poster prize for Martin Hersberger and team

(Switzerland) for “Development of a LC-MS/MS Method for the Quantification of 16 Steroids in Plasma
from Children”.
Merit awards were also presented for five additional outstanding posters (in alphabetical order):Sibtain Ahmed (Pakistan) for “Establishment of Reference Intervals of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone in
Neonates-An Experience from Pakistan”, Randa Alratrout (Saudi Arabia) for “The Frequency of Inherited
Metabolic & Endocrine Disorders in the Eastern andNorth-Western Jawf Provinces of Saudi Arabia: FourYears’ Data from the Newborn Screening Department, Ministry of Health, Dammam”, Marta Camilot (Italy)
for “1st and 99th percentiles of aminoacids and acylcarnitines measured in dried blood spots collected at
two and four weeks of life from prematures and/or low
birth weight newborns for extended newborn screening”; Busadee Pratumvit (Thailand) for “Close Correlation between Arterial and Central Venous Lactate
Concentrations of Children in Shock: A Cross-sectional
Study”; and Natalia Simakova (Russian Federation) for“Reference intervals for reticulocyte parameters of infants during their first year after birth using Sysmex
XN-1000 hematology analyzer”.
Of 52 accepted abstracts, seven were offered oralpresentation The Best Oral Presentation prize (forinvestigators over 40 years of age) was awarded toChris Vorster (South Africa) for “Justification for andperceived barriers to the implementation of a newborn screening program for South Africa”. The Best
Oral Presentation prize (for young investigator, up
to 40 years of age) was awarded to Sonja Bartlett(Canada) for “A basic metabolomics investigationof the effect of nanogold based treatment: Potential applications/consequences in inborn errors of
metabolism.” In total, monetary prizes were provided to nine winners at the Congress. Veteran judges noted an especially high quality of abstracts andposters for this Congress, combined with excellent
oversight by Dr. Tze Ping Loh over the process andprizes.
Scientific programming focused on novel technologies and breaking news topics of paedatric interest,
which included four distinguished plenary speakers
in the following scientific realms: recent experience
Article continued on next page6

with the Ebola Virus in West Africa (Dr.
Janusz Paweska), use of point of care
to improve patient care (Dr. Sverre
Sandberg), the microbiome in early life
(Dr. Michael Surette) and the genetics
of calcium metabolism disorders (Dr.
Rajesh Thakker). Additionally, nine
symposia featuring 32 speakers were
offered in the general paediatric interest areas of newborn screening; endocrinology; panel discussion of critical values; reference intervals; next
generation sequencing; nutrition andimmunology; bone metabolism; selectoral platform presentations; and general pediatric laboratory testing.
An initiative of this Congress’s Organizing Committee was to identify anopportunity for charitable sponsorship to a local community of children, in keeping with the paediatricmission of the Task Force. Accordingly, Drs. Tahir Pillay and Sharon Geaghan arranged the opening ceremony
to be graced by the Key of Hope Choir, a group of young girls and boys whose voices and joyful energy welcomed
attendees and made spirits soar. In return for this gift, the Task Force donated to this meritorious organization,
which helps children that have been orphaned by or otherwise affected by HIV and AIDS in South Africa. Specifically, over 1200 children are visited in their home every week, over 200 children are sent to school every
year, and more than 300 children’s rights cases are advocated for annually by this organization. For others who
may wish to make their visit to South Africa into a lasting relationship, and might be interested in supportinga Durban-based fountain of goodwill and hope, please visit its website: https://keyofhope.org/.
SSIEM scholarship recipients gather for the Paediatric Congress

Financial support for the Congress, a satellite meeting presented in advance of the IFCC WorldLab on a triennial basis, was independently recruited by the TF-PLM Committee members. The efforts once again resulted in excellent funding, and our
gratitude extends to Platinum level
sponsor, Alexion Pharmaceuticals; six
Gold level sponsors (in alphabetical order): American Association of Clinical
Chemistry (AACC), Roche Diagnostics,
Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists(CSCC), Deutscheland Gesellschaft fürKlinische Chemie und Laboratoriumsmedizin/German Society for Clinical
Chemistry (DGKL), the Society for the
Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism(SSIEM), and the Swiss Society of Clinical Chemistry (SSCC); and Bronze level
sponsor, Sarstedt. Additional sponsorships included the Royal College of
SSIEM scholarship recipients network during the Paediatric Congress
Article continued on next page

7

Pathologists (RCP), South African Medical ResearchCouncil (SAMRC) and the Federation of South African
Societies of Pathology (FSASP).
Committee members include Chair, Michael Metz
(AU) and Vice-Chair Timothy Lang (UK); Immediate
Past-Chair Vijay Grey (CA); Past Past Chair Klaus Kohse(DE); and (in alphabetical order): Sharon Geaghan(USA); Martin Hersberger (CH); Patti Jones (USA); Tze
Ping Loh (SG); Magdalena Turzyniecka (ZA) and Tahir
Pillay (ZA).

For the magnificent programme design (Dr. Magdalena
Turzyniecka) and core leadership for the Durban Symposium, the trio of Drs. Michael Metz, Tahir Pillay andMagdalena Turzyniecka are heartily thanked.
The 14th Congress met the longstanding mission statement of the IFCC Task Force on Paediatric Laboratory
Medicine: improving the diagnosis and management of patients from birth to adolescence. Looking ahead three years to 2020, the TF-PLM will continue its mission in Seoul, South Korea.

14TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF PAEDIATRIC LABORATORY MEDICINE:TESTIMONIALS RECEIVED FROM SEVERAL AWARDEES (excerpts)*****
To have a conference of this magnitude in my own country was already an inspiration to me…The lectures weretopical, vast and interesting and the presenters made an
extra effort to engage and discuss which was refreshing.
The intimate setting allowed for networking & open discussion outside the plenaries. In a short space of time a lotof ground was covered and it was interesting to see how
far other countries have progressed …I am grateful for the
SSIEM travel bursary which has allowed me the opportunity to broaden my horizon and look to the future especiallyfor my country & its health amongst our most vulnerable
population. (Ashandree Reddy-ZA)*****
The XIV International Congress of Paediatric Laboratory
Medicine (ICPLM) was a great experience and I am truly grateful for the SSIEM travel scholarship that made it
possible for me to attend the conference .I have gained insights to improve laboratory service especially in children
in my hospital and my country. I returned from the conference with a great deal of inspiration, enthusiasm andideas to apply with pediatric laboratory service and expand
my knowledge to laboratory professional personnel in the
country. Thank you very much to give this great opportunity. (Best regards, Busadee Pratumvinit, MD-THAILAND)*****
Thank you again for this incredible opportunity to attend
an international conference in paediatric laboratory medicine, specifically focused on inborn errors of metabolism,
for which I have a particular passion. …I thoroughly enjoyedall of the sessions at the ICPLM conference, as well as theopportunity to catch up with distant colleagues and to meetand interrogate the great minds in this field. The smaller
numbers attending the conference meant that these individuals were more accessible to those of us that are junior
and who would normally not have an opportunity to comeclose to them, let alone to sit at lunch with them! The conference was superbly organized, with all sessions runningsmoothly and to time. I thank you again for a most valuable
experience. (Kind regards, Justine Cole-ZA)*****…The congress had a lively opening ceremony where theKey of Hope children’s choir entertained us with enthusiastic renditions of popular local songs. The children’s smilingfaces set the tone for the academic programme leaving
delegates also smiling and satisfied with the intellectual
content of the congress …There was a small group of attendees which allowed registrars and other trainees greater opportunity to network more meaningfully with all categories of laboratory staff including consultants and experts
in their fields. I wish to thank the organizers for a highly
enjoyable programme, for reducing the registration fee for
African delegates and SSIEM for granting me a travel grant
despite being an older delegate. (Jocelyn Naicker-ZA)*****
I was the fortunate recipient of a travel scholarship fromSSIEM...I would also like to take the opportunity to thankthe Organising Committee for recruiting these world classspeakers for the Congress…I was welcomed to an emotional opening ceremony, with an uplifting performance fromthe children’s choir, Key of Hope. Key of Hope provides longterm mentoring, allowing children to thrive as citizen’s andpotential leaders, to combat the future challenges Africa
faces. We were then provided with stark evidence of the8tragic reality of life in Africa and risks healthcare workers
face (both local and foreign), with Prof. Janusz Paweska
opening plenary lecture discussing the ecological and epidemiological aspects of the recent Ebola outbreak in west
Africa from 2013 to 2015…the work done by Prof. Janusz
Paweska team gives hope to rapid and effective control
of future viral outbreaks.…I would like to thank the SSIEM

for funding 22 travel scholarships, the largest number ofscholarships awarded in the history of the ICPLM, of which
I was fortunate enough to be granted one. I have retuned
back Australia having made many wonderful new friends
and fostering new collaborative partnerships into the future. (Corey Markus-AU)*****

How can you explain traceability in laboratory medicine to your clinician users?
by Graham Beastall
on behalf of the Joint Committee for Traceability in Laboratory Medicine
Laboratory Medicine (JCTLM), which “supports worldwide comparability, reliability and equivalence of measurement results in laboratory medicine, for the purposeof improving health care and facilitating national and international trade in in vitro diagnostic devices”.

How can you explain traceability in laboratory medicine to your clinician users?
A recent article by Graham Jones in his local hospitaljournal provides one approach to answer this question.
Clinicians who use laboratory medicine services takeit for granted that the laboratory provides ‘the right
result’. They believe that the result they get backfrom their laboratory is both accurate and capable ofcomparison with results obtained from other laboratories or retrieved from the medical/scientific literature. It comes as a shock to most clinicians to learn
that for many results they receive there is significant
between-method variability. In some cases, the variability may be such that clinical outcomes and evenpatient safety may be compromised if they compare
the results that they get from their local laboratory
with literature or clinical practice guideline resultsthat were obtained using a different method.
Traceability in laboratory medicine (TLM) is the key toreducing between-method variability. IFCC is a founder member of the Joint Committee for Traceability in

The website www.jctlm.org provides freely available
resources to help laboratory medicine specialists tounderstand TLM and to train others to appreciate its
importance. These resources take the form of webinars, PowerPoint presentations, symposia at scientificmeetings and publications.
As part of the support provided to its users the clinical laboratory has a responsibility to alert clinicians to
between-method variability and the pitfalls that could
arise. At the same time clinicians can be reassured that
there is a global effort to reduce the problem to makeresults more comparable. The article by Graham Jonesfrom St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, Australia provides an excellent template for communication withclinician users. Entitled ‘Chemical Pathology – Getting
the Right Answer’ the article is written in non-technical language using examples that may be understoodby clinicians and other healthcare professionals. Keyreferences are included.
The article is published in the St Vincent’s Clinic, Proceedings (Sydney) Volume 25, 1 December 2017. It
may be downloaded here. The article may be reproduced or modified for local use as long as an acknowledgement is provided to the original publication. The
article provides you with an opportunity to educate
and support your clinical users.

9

Poster awards at IFCC WorldLab 2017 Durban
by Tahir Pillay
IFCC eNews Editor
Congress Co-president, WorldLab 2017
The South African Association for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine (SAACB), under the presidency of Prof. Tahir Pillay,
donated monetary prizes for the poster awards for Worldlab2017.
For the first time in an IFCC Conference, poster presenters wereasked to submit PDF copies of posters to be included in the IFCC Worldlab 2017 Durban conference “app”, if they
wished to be entered into the poster draw. This allowed judges to evaluate the posters at their leisure and award
prizes for the poster adjudicated, in their opinion, to be the three best. The judges were Dr Patrick Twomey from
Ireland and Dr Bill Simpson from Scotland. The judges selected the following posters from registered presenters:
FIRST PRIZE (ZAR 10 000)
1) Evaluating Riboflavin Deficiency in the First Case of Riboflavin Transporter Deficiency in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Rusch J.A.; Chaya S.; Riordan G.; Wilmshurst J.; Van der Watt G. (South Africa)

RUNNERS UP (ZAR 5000)
2) Unveiling the mechanism of Interfering Effects of chemotherapy on Blast Flagging in Sysmex XN automaticreflex test. Lee H., Bang K.D., Song I.S., Lee D.S. (South Korea)

3) The Role of Procalcitonin in Neonatal Sepsis at The Nairobi Hospital.
Abdulhafedh I., Mwachari C., Mugo J., Kariuki P., Atul P. (Kenya)

10

Accreditation of medical laboratories – success for the 50% cap
by Bernard GougetCounselor for Public Health FHF
President Human Healthcare Section Committee-COFRAC;
SFBC-International Relations Committee
Alain Suiro
Vice President, Human Healthcare Section Committee-COFRAC
Hélène Mehay
Director, Human Healthcare Division-Cofrac
The 31st of December 2017 was an important day for laboratory medicine
in France: the first deadline set for Medical Laboratories (LBM) as part ofthe legislative obligation to accredit their activity, 864 of 869 (99.3%) medical laboratories, including 305 hospitals are currently accredited; a winning
bet that illustrates mobilization and which rewards the collective effort ofthe entire profession of laboratory medicine, institutions and COFRAC for
the implementation of a reform essential to the quality of care.
Making accreditation compulsory for the practice of laboratory medicine
activities is an ambitious choice on the part of the public authorities.
Medical laboratories had to meet two criteria as of 31st of December 2017,
to be accredited: on each of the three test families (biochemistry-genetics,
immunology-haematology-reproductive biology, microbiology) and in atleast 50% of their activity.

Bernard Gouget

Introduced by Order No. 2010-49 of January 13, 2010 on laboratory medicine, the accreditation obligation affects all public and private medicallaboratories in France. It seeks to guarantee their competence and thequality of services provided. This accreditation provides an additional
guarantee to patients on the value of the examinations performed andfits directly into the main thrusts of the national health strategy. Thechange in the schedule allowing medical laboratories until 31 December 2017 to be accredited has proven to be a well-calibrated measure. It
made it possible to plan evaluations in an optimized manner, given the
resources available to evaluators and to have sufficient time to comply
before the deadline.

The Regional Health Agencies have been informed that the accreditation process has not been completed for5 medical laboratories that have been the subject of a first negative decision and for which the control of thediscrepancies identified during their initial assessment must be verified. A single private practice laboratory gave
notification of refusal of accreditation. Out of 305 hospital medical laboratories, 3 medical laboratories are still
awaiting a decision for restructuring reasons or exceptional situations.
The next step, by 1 November 2020, is to obtain accreditation for all medical laboratory activities. Furthermore,
the Human Health Section of COFRAC has already implemented a concerted strategy to improve the performance of its actions by optimizing processes and wishes to strengthen the support of professionals in this essential new phase to guarantee the success of the reform (www.cofrac.fr).

11

NEWS FROM REGIONAL FEDERATIONS AND MEMBER SOCIETIES
French Society of Clinical Biology (SFBC)
Advances in cancer biology: SFBC National Congress, Parisby Katell Peoc’h, Delphine Collin-Chavagnac, Sylvain Lehmann
SFBC-Scientific Committee
Bernard Gouget
SFBC-COC member
goal: to enhance the life expectancy and the well-being of patients.

On 16-17 October 2017, the French Society of Clinical Biology (SFBC) under the leadership of Prof.
Marc Delpech, President SFBC, and in collaborationof the SFBC-Congress Organizing Committee (Michel
Vaubourdolle, SFBC-EFLM representative, Bernard
Gouget, chair IFCC-NC) organized the two-day SFBC
National Congress 2017 at the Cité Universitaire Internationale de Paris to discuss “Innovative approaches
in cancer biology”.

At the opening session, we were delighted to welcome Prof. Michael Neumaier, EFLM-President-elect,
who presented a quite exciting conference regarding
liquid biopsies. Prof. Norbert IFRAH, Institut National
du Cancer (INCa), underlined that the research of biology systems is a priority for the INCa. The research
focussed on cancer biology helps to increase the basic
knowledge of oncogenesis, and of the development
and progression of cancer.

Today, there are three million people living with cancer or after cancer in France. Cancers are also theleading cause of avoidable deaths. Based on current
knowledge, it is estimated that nearly one of twocancer deaths could be avoided.
The last decade has seen remarkable advances incancer research. However, despite significant breakthroughs in the understanding, prevention and treatment of cancer, this disease continues to affect millions of people worldwide and has a significant impact
on health policies.
Innovation in diagnosis and follow up are an incredibly dynamic field of clinical biology. It has merged all
disciplines into the same dynamic with a common

Dr. Katell Peoc’h, SFBC-Scientific Committee

INCa has an instrumental role on a European and international scale. Through all its different programmes,
the INCa intends to develop and roll out targeted
therapies and personalized medicine strengthening
the links between care and research, and transversely,
Article continued on next page12

emphasizes support and access to innovation for thetreatment of malignant diseases.
The SFBC established partnerships with INCa to confront scientific strategies and find synergies amongorganizations. The primary aim of the medical community is to cure more patients, by promoting early
diagnosis and guaranteeing access for all to quality
medicine and innovations.
Prof. Ph Gillery, IFCC-SD chair, highlighted the IFCC
activities to address the challenges and the opportunities to accelerate future progress against cancer bypromoting innovative diagnosis and an ever-increasing understanding of the genes and molecular pathways that are disrupted.
At this symposium, Catherine Alix Panabières andJean-Marc Lacorte had the opportunity to discuss
the place of circulating tumor cell detection versus
tumoral DNA detection.
Pierre-Jean Lamy presented the new biochemicaltumoral markers and Jacqueline Lehmann-Che, thesomatic genetic analysis of tumors in the era of personalized medicine.
We were also able to deepen our knowledge and become aware of the challenges existing around theemerging fields of exosomes and microparticles,
presented by Francoise Dignat-Georges, and microbiota, detailed by Mathias Chamaillard, in the pathogenesis of cancer and its diagnosis.

During the second day, the SFBC-WGs presented
their recent findings in the field of tumour markers,
digital PCR applications in cancer (Frédéric Fina), circulating tumoral DNA and cells studies.
Frederic Thomas, who recently created the Center
for Ecological and Evolutionary Cancer Research inMontpellier, gave us a quite innovative and integrative conference on the ecology of cancer in respect
to evolutionary biology. He insisted on the evolutionary relationships between malignant cells and thehost and explained how oncogenic processes act as
selective forces.
Young scientists were invited to present the current
status of their research, and Prof. Jean-Louis Beaudeux,
as Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy Paris Descartes
challenged them on their topics.
Thanks to all the speakers who, through the quality of
their presentations and choice of topics, inspired theinterest of the participants.
We were also pleased to be associated with this eventwith several IVD partners and the Medicen Paris Region global competitiveness cluster.
The Next National Congress is planned to take placeat the Cite Universitaire de Paris, in March 2019.
For more information, visit the following website:
https://www.sfbc-asso.fr/.

News from Mexico (CMCLC)
2nd Regional Symposium of DIABESITY:
Diagnostic and clinical aspects
by Julio C. Lara-Riegos, Julio C. Torres-Romero
and Rosa Sierra-AmoreNews WG Member
A symposium on diabesity: clinical and diagnostic aspects was organized by Yucatán Chapter of the Mexican Association of Clinical Laboratory Sciences (Colegio
Mexicano de Ciencias de Laboratorio Clínico, CMCLC) in
Mérida, Yucatán, México from 17-18 November 2017.

The CMCLC convened the symposium, chaired by Esteban Rojas-Velázquez, MSc. President Yucatán Chapter that was held at the Faculty of Chemistry of theAutonomous University of Yucatan. There were 140
participants, from different health care centres andArticle continued on next page13

clinical laboratories from Yucatán State. A welcome
opening message was given by Jezabel Vite- Casanova, MS. CMCLC president. This event had IFCC and
COLABIOCLI auspices.
The symposium objective was to create a space fordissemination and exchange of knowledge including
clinical current recommendations for the prevention,
the diagnosis, and treatment strategies for patients
dealing with diabetes and obesity.
The event was organized based on the declaration of
epidemiological alert reported in Mexico for the firsttime last November for metabolic entities, mainly Diabetes type 2, and in the frame of world diabetes day.
There was a total of 17 conferences covering a broad
range of hot topics from Genetics, where José Peralta
Romero, MD, Hospital Siglo XXI, IMSS described clinical, genetic, biochemical and molecular aspects ofobesity, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome in
the Mexican population.
Julio Lara-Riegos, PhD from Faculty of Chemistry, Autonomous University of Yucatan described the genetic risk in Mayan population for metabolic disease including diabesity.
Guadalupe Garcia Escalante, PhD and Lorena Ruiz
Garcia, MSc., both from the ‘’Dr. Hideyo Noguchi’’Regional Research Center of the Autonomous University of Yucatan, explained the importance of the variations in genes associated with obesity and DT2-associated polymorphisms in families of a Yucatecan
population.
In the context of metabolic alterations, Alma Estrella Fernandez, MD from the General Regional Hospital
Number 12, IMSS defined a biochemical portrait of
metabolic syndrome.
Edwin Martinez Leo, MSc Autonomous University of
Yucatan presented his study of mitochondrial dysfunction and the therapeutic opportunity in diabesity.
Julio Lara-Riegos, PhD explained the importance of
the Small and dense LDL particles (sdLDL) as a marker
of atherogenic risk in DT2.
Ana I. Burguete García, PhD from the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico examined the relationship between Microbiota, Obesity and CardioMetabolic Risk.
Four presentations emphasized the theme of multifactorial causation of obesity, where Victor Arana-Argaéz PhD Faculty of Chemistry, Autonomous University of Yucatan explored the historical evidence of theimmunological aspects of obesity.

Yucatan Chapter CMCLC Executive Board Members, speakers and young
scientists at the 2nd Symposium on Diabesity, Merida, Yuc., Mexico

Article continued on next page14

Hugo Azcorra, PhD and Sudip Datta Banik PhD CINVESTAV-Mérida stressed the importance of the approach to obesity from a human ecology perspective
and the negative impacts between diet, exercise anddisease in children of Mérida, Yucatán.
Jorge Carlos Guillermo Herrera MD, Autonomous University of Yucatan introduced the “Globesity”, geopolitical challenges in the economic-sanitary systems interms of obesity.
In the area of control and diagnosis, Freddy González
Basulto, MD, Municipal Center for Nutritional and Diabetes Care – Merida City, introduced the “7 steps”
which are proposed as essentials for education in control of diabetes.

Antonio Cervera-Cetina, MD, from Merida Clinical,
discussed what the best test for the diagnosis of diabetes is.
Closely related to diabetes diagnosis, Eduardo Rojano
Rodríguez, MSc and David Fernando Martinez, MSc,
made presentations which emphasized the theme of
the HbA1c as the principal test for diagnosis of diabetes, from the standardization to the methodologicaland analytical fundamentals in the quantitative determination.
At the end of the symposium, Bact. Diana PérezVázquez explained the importance of application of
the Six Sigma model in the improvement of analyticalquality in the determination of glucose.

News from Pakistan
Meeting report:
Guest lecture on Diagnosis of Lysosomal Storage Diseases
by Lena Jafri
IFCC National Representative
On 15 December 2017, the Aga Khan University in
Collaboration with Pakistan Society of Chemical Pathology (PSCP) organized a CME lecture at the Aga
Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. The invited speaker was Dr. Julaina Abd Jalil from the Institutefor Medical Research (IMR), Malaysia, who spoke on‘Diagnosis of Lysosomal Storage Diseases (LSDs) in
IMR Malaysia’. In order to update their knowledge
several Chemical Pathologists from different institutes of Pakistan attended the session. It was wellattended by PSCP members, residents, technologists
and consultant Chemical Pathologists of Pakistan.
Dr. Julaina started by giving an overview of LSDs andtheir classification. She explained that every LSD results from a problem with the lysosomal process bywhich enzymes rid cells of substrate and when a lysosomal enzyme (or another protein that directs it) is
deficient or malfunctioning the substrate accumulates interfering with normal cellular activity.

Participants attending the guest lecture
by Dr. Julaina Abd Jalil
Article continued on next page

15

She then offered an insight into the available first tier and second tier laboratory
tests for screening and diagnosing various
LSDs. She emphasized that before considering specific analyses (enzymatic and/or
molecular), preliminary screening tests for
LSDs should be performed. Additionally,
she discussed the importance of high resolution electrophoresis for MPS patientsand thin layer chromatography for patientswith oligosaccharidoses.
Dr. Julaina continued her talk by discussing
the clinical utility and technical challenges
of multiplex assay of enzymes using tanGroup picture of Dr. Julaina Abd Jalil
with PSCP members
dem mass spectrometry. She discussed theavailable enzyme assays for various LSDs in IMR Malaysia and shared the data of positive cases reported bythem to date.
It was an enlightening talk for all PSCP members present at the meeting as laboratories in Pakistan do not havethe expertise in LSD screening and diagnosis to date. Dr. Julaina’s talk initiated extensive discussion on challenges faced in testing for LSDs and provided an opportunity for all present to interact and discuss LSDs related
issues with an expertise in this area.

Greetings from the new EFLM President
by Michael Neumaier
EFLM President
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of the Executive Board and the office of EFLM, I take the opportunity
to wish you all a successful year 2018. We have very much appreciated yourinput and encouragement in the projects that EFLM has pursued over the last
couple of years. It is certainly remarkable, how EFLM has developed in the few
years of its existence so far, and the signs are that it will continue to advance inthe future.

Prof. Michael Neumaier

I particularly mention this, as EFLM - with 40 Full Member National Societies thelargest Regional Federation in IFCC - represents a challenging mix of concepts
and strategies towards laboratory medicine be it in health care, in education andscience. While we can perceive this heterogeneity as interesting and stimulating,it appears important to develop sustainable ideas of how we want our profession
to be seen in these times of rapid technological changes, inter-connectedness,digitization and digitalization that are taking hold everywhere in medicine. Like
Article continued on next page16

other medical disciplines, we can readily identify that an improved networking, professional harmonization andexchange as well as an efficient recruitment of young academics will be the major recipes for successful activities
in order to master these challenges. Speaking of such, I like to draw your attention to the 2nd EFLM Strategic
Conference entitled “The End of Laboratory Medicine as we know it? Handling disruption of Laboratory Medicine
in Digital Health” to be held on 18 and 19 June 2018 in Mannheim, Germany. As Mannheim can be reached fromFrankfurt airport by train within 35 minutes, you may consider attending the Strategic Conference and participating in the discussions. The program is finalized and will be available on the webpage shortly.
Finally, I wish to thank, on behalf of the Executive Board our fellow colleagues – currently more than 170 officers
working in honorary capacities, who are enthusiastically engaged in the various task and working groups within
the EFLM committees. Particular thanks go to the chairs who are doing a tremendous job, and it is encouraging
to see an increasing interest of young members in participating in topics addressing various important laboratory medicine topics, often with the explicit support of their national societies. Also, members of the EB who
have visited national meetings, regularly come back with the strong impression of an increasing interest in EFLM
affairs. I therefore want to specifically encourage you to consider joining a EFLM group, where you find an issue
that you might be interested in contributing to and supporting EFLM. Remember that you can ask your National Society to recommend you as a corresponding member to any Working Group (but only one corresponding
member from each country)
Let me close with again by wishing you a successful year 2018 and a continued favourable development of EFLM
to all of us.
Michael Neumaier
EFLM President

EFLM Executive Board 2018-2019
Wishing the new EFLM board the best success for the incoming years

President
Michael NEUMAIER

University Medicine Mannheim
Heidelberg University
Institute for Clinical Chemistry

Mannheim, Germany

Past President
Sverre SANDBERG

Norwegian Quality Improvement ofPrimary Care Laboratories, Noklus
Dept. Global Public Health and Primary Care

University of Bergen, Norway

President-Elect
Ana-Maria ŠIMUNDIĆ

Dept for Medical Laboratory Diagnostics
Clinical Hospital “Sveti Duh”

Zagreb, Croatia

Article continued on next page17

Secretary
Giuseppe LIPPI

Section of Clinical Biochemistry
University of Verona

Verona, Italy

Treasurer
Huibert STORM

CERTE
Medisch Centrum Leeuwarden

Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

Member at LargeJoão Tiago GUIMARÃES

Clinical Pathology Department
Centro Hospitalar São JoãoPorto,Portugal

Member at Large
Tomáš ZIMA

Inst. of Clin. Chem. & Lab. Diagn.
First Faculty of Medicine,Charles Univ.

Prague, Czech Republic

The EFLM Board (2016-2017) at the annual meeting,
together with the C-Chairs and with the newly elected members in Milan (IT),to exchange reports, ideas and plans (December 8-9, 2017).
Around the clock: M. Panteghini, G. Wieringa, M.S. Graziani, R Lichtinghagen, G. Sypniewska, W Huisman, M. Neumaier;H. Storm, J.T. Guimarães, A.M. Simundic, T. Zima, G. Lippi, S. Sandberg

18

Updates to the EFLM publication listby Maria Stella Graziani
Chair of the EFLM Communication Committee
The EFLM Working Group on Biological Variation andthe Task and Finish Group for the Biological Variation
Database continue their fundamental efforts to makeavailable to the international scientific community reliable data on Biological Variation (BV).
The Biological Variation Data Critical Appraisal
Checklist: A Standard for Evaluating Studies on
Biological Variation
Aarsand AK, Raas T, Fernandez-Calle P, Ricos C, DíazGarzón J, Jonker N, Perich C, González-Lao E, Carobene
A, Minchinela J, Coŝkun A, Simón M, Álvarez V, Bartlett
WA, Fernández-Fernández P, Boned B, Braga F, Corte
Z, Aslan B, Sandberg S. on behalf of the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
Working Group on Biological Variation and Task andFinish Group for the Biological Variation Database
Clin Chem. 2017 doi: 10.1373/clinchem.2017.281808.
BV data are essential in many aspects of Laboratory Medicine and are used for setting analytical performance specifications. Since concerns have beenraised about the quality of BV estimates, the EFLM
functional units on the topic decided to work toaddress the issue. The aim of this paper is three-fold:to describe the Biological Variation Data Critical Appraisal Checklist (BIVAC), which verifies whether
publications have included all essential elementsthat may impact the veracity of associated BV
estimates; to use the BIVAC to critically appraise existing BV publications on enzymes, lipids, kidney, anddiabetes-related measurands, and finally to apply
metaanalysis to deliver a global within-subject BV
estimate for some measurands. The conclusions of
the paper are that application of BIVAC to BV publications identified deficiencies in study details and delivery, that impact the reliability of BV estimates. BV
data from BIVAC-compliant studies can be combined
to deliver robust global estimates for suitable clinicalapplication. As an example, reliable BV data on ALT
produced through a metaanalysis of many studies ispresented. Results for other measurands will be madeavailable soon in a new BV database linked to the
EFLM website.
The list of the EFLM publications is available online
on www.eflm.eu, under EFLM Publications, where theavailable papers can be downloaded.

News from the IFCC Website
eJIFCC Vol 28 n°4
eJIFCC Vol 28, n°4 is now available. The issue is the last under the Chairmanshipof Prof. Gábor Kovács (HU).
The IFCC thanks Prof. Kovacs for the many accomplishments and for having brought
the eJIFCC to a higher level. Congratulations and thank you, Prof Kovács!
eJIFCC Vol 28, n°4 is guest edited by Dr. Flavio F. Alcantara (BR), Chair of the IFCC
Task Force on Chronic Kidney Disease (TF-CKD), and by Dr. Vanja Radišić Biljak (CR),member of the TF. The issue focuses on the laboratory diagnosis of chronic kidneydiseases. The IFCC TF-CKD sheds light on several aspects of the field, from basic
research to daily clinical practices, uniting many IFCC member countries working indifferent aspects of the laboratory in chronic kidney care.
Read more

19

News from Uruguay
The XI Uruguayan Congress of Clinical Biochemistryby Stella Raymondo
IFCC National Representative
Ana Piana
eNews WG Member
The XI Uruguayan Congress of Clinical Biochemistry
took place from 17-20 September 2017, at the Convention Center, Punta del Este, Maldonado, Uruguay.
The following IFCC visiting lecturers attended
the meeting:ÂÂ Dr. Jean- Claude Forest (Canada)ÂÂ Dr. Tomris Ozben (Turkey)
ÂÂ Dr. Sergio Bernardini (Italy)
Three courses were developed intra-congress:
ÂÂ “Comprehensive blood bank management
system”
ÂÂ “Mass spectrometry at clinical diagnosis”
ÂÂ “Flow cytometry applied to the study of hematological diseases”

The attendees came from 25 countries: Latin America: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay,
Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Venezuela; Europe: Germany, Switzerland, England, Turkey, Czech
Republic, Italy, and Norway and, last but not least,
from North America: Canada and USA.
Fourteen symposia, nineteen round tables, and thirty-four conferences, were conducted. Meetings of
IFCC and COLABIOCLI working groups were also held.
It was a cordial meeting of colleagues in a friendly
atmosphere.

There was also a pre-congress course:ÂÂ “Verification of analytical methods”, under
the auspices of American Association for Clinical
Chemistry (AACC) .
A total of 500 participants registered. 109 speakers
from Europe and America presented their topics.

Participants at the XI Uruguayan Congress of Clinical Biochemistry20

IFCC PROFESSIONAL SCIENTIFIC EXCHANGE PROGRAMME (PSEP)
My experience in Padua, Italy
by Ledina Mino
Albania
I was honored to receive the IFCC scholarship for a
Professional Management Exchange Program (PMEP)
and was able to spend one month (4 November – 2
December 2017) in the University Hospital of Padua,
Italy, in the Department of Laboratory Medicine, directed by Professor Mario Plebani.

2-3 days in each department, studying their specificorganization and workflow, the way they reported
irregularities, the quality indicators they used, how
they reported them and how they evaluated theiroutcome and performance based on the quality indicators specific to each department.

The aim of my visit was to learn from their experiencein laboratory management, management of the quality system in the laboratory and accreditation.

I was shown how they used different software andprogram interfaces in the lab, not only LIS with its
specific rules for validation, but also other programs
that helped a lot in laboratory management, suchas the quality management program where quality
indicators, irregularities and nonconformities were
documented and analyzed statistically. This software allowed the management of laboratory pipettes, their control, calibration, and was currently
being developed to include also management of thelaboratory fridges and freezers in terms of temperature control and calibration. Another program was
the one used in the preanalytics department whichallowed tracing of samples being transported, theirtemperature and duration of transportation, and of
curriers and laboratory staff that dealt with them.

The Department of Laboratory Medicine in Padua
is a big multidisciplinary laboratory that runs over 8
million tests per year and is accredited according to

L-R: Lorenzo Baccarin, Ledina Mino (PSEP), Flaviano Favaro

ISO 15189 standard. During my stay at the laboratory, I was under the supervision and guidance of Dr.
Laura Sciacovelli, who was appointed Quality Manager of the Laboratory. She showed me the general organization of their laboratory, the workflows
in each department, and I was able to visit most ofthem: preanalytics, clinical chemistry, electrophoresis, hematology, coagulation, immunology, molecular biology, emergency department etc. I spent

During my stay I was able to see how they calibrated
and controlled pipettes and how they documented
the whole process. I was also shown the whole storing system (warehouse, fridges, freezers) and thedifferent systems they used for temperature control
and different levels of traceability for thermometers
calibration.
Another very important topic that I had the opportunity to discuss and learn a lot about was quality control. I was able to understand how they participatedin national and international external quality control
programmes that included the major part of thetests run in the laboratory. I understood how they
Article continued on next page21

evaluated and discussed the results of this schemes,
and how they used the results to understand method performance compared to other laboratories,
making EQAS schemes a continuous source of improvement. I learned some new concepts about
the best way to perform internal quality controls
according to their experience, by establishing thelaboratory’s own means and standard deviations,thus narrowing the limits of acceptable performanceprovided by the manufacturers and achieving better
performance. I learned how to monitor alignment
between identical and different instruments running
the same tests and how to verify the traceability of amethod as declared by the manufacturer.
During this period I also attended two conferences:“Food allergies and intolerances” and “New diagnostic strategies in autoimmune diseases”, as well as avery important congress in Milan: “Measurement
Uncertainty in medical laboratories: friend or foe?”organized by the Italian Centre for MetrologicalTraceability in Laboratory Medicine (CIRME), which
completed perfectly this experience.
The time I spent in the Padua laboratory has definitely improved my approach towards quality management in laboratory medicine. I have learned newconcepts and deepened and elaborated other topics
that I was already aware of. After this experience, I
am confident that I can give a valuable contribution
in developing the field of Laboratory Quality Management in Albania.
Acknowledgements:
I am profoundly thankful to IFCC and Prof. Maurizio
Ferrari for the opportunity they gave me through thisscholarship. I want to thank especially the Director of

L-R: Dr. Giorgia Antonelli, Prof. Mario Plebani, Dr. Ledina
Mino, Dr. Laura Sciacovelli and Dr. Andrea Padoan

the Padua Laboratory, Professor Mario Plebani, forhosting me in his excellent laboratory, enabling me
to bring back home a wonderful experience to sharewith my colleagues, and also Dr. Laura Sciacovelli who
despite her many commitments was always available,
guiding me through this experience and through thepath of laboratory quality management.
Thanks to all the doctors, biologists and laboratory
technicians in Padua’s Laboratory, who were so kind
and willing to explain to me everything in relation toquality management: Dr. Daniela Bernardini, Dr. Elisa
Piva, Dr. Daniela Basso, Dr. Diego Faggian, Ada Aita,
Roberta Venturini, Sara Altinier, Flaviano Favaro, Ettore, Lorenzo, Adriano, Anita, Sabrina.
Special thanks go to Professor Anyla Bulo, the head ofAlbanian Society of Laboratory Medicine and Head ofTirana’s University Hospital Laboratory for her everlasting support: none of this would have been possible
without her support and recommendations.

News from the IFCC Website: Barcelona Congress website - Now Open!
We are happy to announce that the EuroMedLab Congress website is
now open, with all the information needed to plan your attendance. Visit
www.euromedlab2019barcelona.org to retrieve all the information
you require. Mark your calendars with the dates: 19-23 May 2019in beautiful Barcelona!
								Read more

22

IFCC's Calendar of Congresses, Conferences & Events
Calendar of IFCC Congresses/Conferences
and Regional Federations' Congresses

Jul 2 - 4, 2018

1st IFCC, EFLM, AFCB Conference “Laboratory Medicine: Meeting the needsof Mediterranean Nations”

Rome, ITMay 19 - 23, 2019

IFCC - EFLM EuroMedLab 2019

Barcelona, ES

May 24 - 28, 2020

XXIV IFCC WorldLab - Seoul 2020

Seoul, KR

May 16 - 20, 2021

XXIV IFCC - EFLM EUROMEDLAB MUNICH 2021

Munich, DE

May 21 - 25, 2023

XXV IFCC - EFLM WORLDLAB EUROMEDLAB - ROME 2023

Rome, IT

Calendar of events with IFCC auspices
Feb 8 - 9, 2018

International Congress on Quality in Laboratory Medicine

Feb 28 - Mar 2, 2018 3rd Turkish in vitro Diagnostic (IVD) Symposium
Mar 5 - 9, 2018

3rd Winter School of Cell Analysis in Immunology

Mar 15 - 17, 2018

College of Chemical Pathologists of Sri Lanka
Annual Academic Sessions 2018

Helsinki, FI
Izmir, TRSaint Etienne, FR
Colombo, LK

Calendar continued on next page23

Apr 18 - 21, 2018

The 10th International Palestinan Conference of Laboratory Medicine
and the 15th Arab Conference of Clinical Biology

Ramallah, PS

May 9 - 12, 2018

2nd Congress of Romanian Association of Laboratory Medicine

Bucharest, RO

May 23 - 25, 2018

14th EFLM Symposium for Balkan Region

Belgrade, SRB

May 23 - 25, 2018

21st Serbian Congress of Medical Biochemistry
and Laboratory Medicine with international participations

Belgrade, SRB

Jun 6 - 8, 2018

Focus 2018 - Annual Meeting of ACB

Manchester, UK

Jun 12 - 15, 2018

XXXVI Nordic Congress of Clinical ChemistryJun 18 - 19, 2018

2nd EFLM Strategic Conference“The end of Laboratory Medicine as we know it?
Handling disruption of Laboratory Medicine in digital health”

Jun 21 - 22, 2018

7th International Symposium on Critical Care Testing and Blood Gases

Helsinki, FIMannheim, DE
Antibes, FR

Jun 30 - Jul 3, 2018 International Society for Enzymology Conference

Naxos, GR

Jul 13 - 14, 2018

Turning Science Into Caring (TSIC)

Shanghai, CN

Sep 26 - 29, 2018

15th Annual Meeting of the German Society for Clinical Chemistry
and Laboratory Medicine - The foundation for diagnosis and therapy

Mannheim, DE

Sep 30 - Oct 3, 2018

Santorini Conference “Systems medicine and personalised health& therapy” - “The odyssey from hope to practice”.

Thira Santorini,GR

Oct 3 - 5, 2018

26th BCLF Meeting and 6th National Congress of MSMBLM

ADVERTISE
in IFCC eNews!
Showcase your products and initiatives to morethan 15000 laboratory medicine specialists
throughout Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle
East, Africa and Latin America: laboratory
directors, clinical chemists, and other clinicallaboratory specialists and technologists, leading
manufacturers, distributors and dealers in thefield.

Skopje, MK

IFCC Corporate Members receive
a 25% discount on current prices
Published ten times a year:
N° 1
February
N° 2
March
N° 3
April
N° 4
May
N° 5
June
N° 6/7 JulyN° 8
September
N° 9
OctoberN° 10
NovemberN° 11/12 December
For prices, formats and any further information, pleaseemail at: enews@ifcc.org
24

IFCC MEMBERSHIP
Full Members
Albania (AL)
Algeria (DZ)
Argentina (AR)Australia and New
Zealand (AU/NZ)
Austria (AT)
Belarus (BY)
Belgium (BE)Bolivia (BO)
Bosnia Herzegovina (BA)
Brazil (BR)
Bulgaria (BG)
Canada (CA)Chile (CL)
China (Beijing) (CN)China (Taipei) (TW)
Colombia (CO)Croatia (HR)Cuba (CU)
Cyprus (CY)
Czech Republic (CZ)
Denmark (DK)
Dominican Republic (DO)
Ecuador (EC)Egypt (EG)Estonia (EE)
Ethiopia (ET)Finland (FI)France (FR)Germany (DE)Greece (GR)
Guatemala (GT)
Honduras (HN)
Hong Kong (HK)
Hungary (HU)
Iceland (IS)India (IN)Indonesia (ID)
Iran (IR)
Ireland (IE)
Israel (IL)
Italy (IT)Japan (JP)Jordan (JO)
Kazakhstan (KZ)
Kenya (KE)
Korea (KR)Kosovo (XK)
Latvia (LV)
Lebanon (LB)
Lithuania (LT)
Luxembourg (LU)
Macedonia (MK)Malawi (MW)Malaysia (MY)Mexico (MX)Montenegro (MNE)
Morocco (MA)
Netherlands (NL)
Nepal (NP)
Nigeria (NG)
Norway (NO)Pakistan (PK)Palestine (PS)Panama (PA)Paraguay (PY)
Peru (PE)Philippine (PH)Poland (PL)Portugal (PT)
Romania (RO)Russia (RU)
Saudi Arabia (SA)Serbia (SRB)
Singapore (SG)Slovak Republic (SK)Slovenia (SI)South Africa (ZA)
Spain (ES)Sri Lanka (LK)
Sudan (SD)
Sweden (SE)Switzerland (CH)
Syrian Arab Republic (SY)
Thailand (TH)Tunisia (TN)Turkey (TR)Ukraine (UA)United Kingdom (UK)
United States (US)Uruguay (UY)
Vietnam (VN)
Zambia (ZM)
Zimbabwe (ZW)

Regional Federations
Arab Federation of Clinical Biology (AFCB)
African Federation of Clinical Chemistry (AFCC)
Asia-Pacific Federation for Clinical Biochemistry andLaboratory Medicine (APFCB)
European Federation of Clinical Chemistry andLaboratory Medicine (EFLM)
Latin America Confederation of Clinical Biochemistry(COLABIOCLI)North American Federation of Clinical Chemistry andLaboratory Medicine (NAFCC)

Corporate Members
AbbottADx Neurosciences
Agappe Diagnostics, Ltd.
Analis R&D Diag.
Asahi Kasei Pharma Corp., AS
Axis Shield Point of Care Division
BD Life Sciences – Preanalytical Systems
Beckman Coulter, Inc.
Beijing Dream Diagnostics Medicine (DDM)
Technology Co. Ltd.
The Binding Site Group, Ltd.
Bio-Rad Laboratories
C.P.M. Diagnostic Research, SAS
DiaSys Diagnostic Systems GmbH
DiatronFujirebio Europe
Gentian, AS
Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co., Ltd.
Helena Biosciencies Europe
HyTest, Ltd.
Instrumentation Laboratory
A. Menarini Diagnostics

Mindray
Mitsubishi Chemical Europe, GmbH
Ningbo MedicalSystem Biotech. Co., Ltd.
Nova Biomedical Corporation
Oneworld Accuracy Collaboration
Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc.
PPD Inc.
Radiometer Medical ApS
Randox Laboratories, Ltd.
Roche Diagnostics, GmbH
Sebia S.A.
Sekisui Diagnostics (Uk) Ltd.
Sentinel CH SpA
Shanghai Kehua Bio-Engineering Co., Ltd.
Shanghai Zhicheng Biol. Tech. Co., Ltd.
Sichuan Maccura Biotechnology Co., Ltd.
Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics
Snibe Co., Ltd.
Sysmex Europe, GmbH
Thermo Fisher Scientific
Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd.
Labor Dr. Wisplinghoff

Affiliate Members
Brazil: Sociedade Brasileira de Patologia Clínica / Medicina Laboratorial (SBPC/ML)
China: Lab Medicine Committee, China Association of Medical Equipment (LMC)
Egypt: Egyptian Association of Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety
India: Association of Medical Biochemists of India (AMBI)
Iran: Iranian Association of Clinical Laboratory Doctors (IACLD)
Jordan: Society for Medical Technology & Laboratories (SMTL)
Mexico: Federación Nacional de Químicos Clínicos (CONAQUIC A.C.)
Nepal: Nepalese Association for Clinical Chemistry (NACC)
Philippines: Philippine Council for Quality Assurance in Clinical Laboratories (PCQACL)
Russia: Regional Association for Clinical Laboratory Diagnosis, St. Petersburg
Spain: Asociación Española de Farmacéuticos Analistas (AEFA)
Turkey: Society of Clinical Biochemistry Specialists (KBUD)
Ukraine: Association for Quality Assurance of Laboratory Medicine (AQALM)

Publisher
Communications and Publications
Division (CPD) of the IFCC
Starting in 2018, the Communications
and Publications Division publishes
ten editions of the e-News per year,
including two double issues.

EditorTahir Pillay, MB ChB, PhD, FRCPath (Lon), FCPath (SA)
Department of Chemical Pathology
University of Pretoria, South Africa
E-mail: enews@ifcc.org

Design & Production:www.insoftdigital.com

Circulation
The eNews is distributed to all IFCC members
registered on-line to receive it and to all IFCC
sponsors.

Deadlines for submissions
to the eNews
N° 1 – February: by mid January
N° 2 – March: by mid February
N° 3 – April: by mid March
N° 4 – May: by mid April
N° 5 – June: by mid May
N° 6/7 – July: by mid June
N° 8 – September: by mid August
N° 9 – October: by mid September
N° 10 – November: by mid October
N° 11/12 – December: by mid November
If you want to submit an article or advertisement
to be published in the eNews, send it to:
Tahir Pillay, Editor, IFCC eNews
E-mail: enews@ifcc.org

Copyright © 2018 IFCC. All rights reserved.
Contents may not be reproduced without the priorpermission of the Communications and Publications
Division (CPD) of the IFCC.