PCLAlvernoPCL Alverno, Hammond, Ind, a full-service, community-based medical lab that performs more than 750 tests in both clinical and anatomic pathology, is now designated a Siemens Microbiology Innovations Center.

Alverno has finished implementing several new microbiology systems, and will serve as a future reference site for other labs interested in exploring Siemens’ microbiology portfolio offerings.

The agreement includes the integration of several new solutions to Alverno’s existing laboratory services, including the Copan WASP: Walk-Away Specimen Processor (WASP) – available to medical labs through a Siemens-Copan partnership

Designed to help labs streamline preanalytical microbiology testing operations and free up staff resources, the WASP system automates the tasks of bacteriology specimen processing.

Alverno has also implemented the Bruker MALDI Biotyper system—available to customers via a Siemens-Bruker partnership—for faster, more accurate and cost-effective microorganism identification.

Later this year, Alverno will be the first laboratory in the United States to implement WASPLab system, the next level of Copan automation. WASPLab system is a bar code-driven and conveyor-connected specimen processing system that employs robotic plate management and image analysis.

[Source: Siemens HealthcarDiagnostics]