Wadsworth Center's Virology Laboratory contributes results of influenza type/subtype identification as well as antiviral resistance testing to the Weekly Influenza Surveillance Report compiled by the New York State Department of Health. 

2017 marks the first year the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has sponsored fellows in the Antimicrobial Resistance Track.Per the sponsors, “The fellowship’s mission is to introduce scientists to public health laboratory science while building the workforce needed to detect and respond to existing and emerging forms of [antibiotic resistance] AR.”

Dr. Susan Wong, Director of the Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory at the Wadsworth Center, recently traveled with a team from Columbia University’s Global Health Program to serve as a resource for evaluating laboratory testing issues.

Groundbreaking work performed in Albany leads to revolution in science and medicine Dr. Rajendra Agrawal has long expected his former Wadsworth Center colleague Dr. Joachim Frank to win the Nobel Prize. This year, it happened. On October 4th, Dr. Frank was named one of three winners of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Dr. Frank shares the prize with Drs. Richard Henderson of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England and Jacques Dubochet from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

Laboratory and follow-up staff (those who communicate results to the medical community) from six states (MA, OH, TN, TX, VA and WA) attended a two and a half-day workshop in Albany co-sponsored by the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) and the New York State Department of Health. Training was provided by the experts at the Wadsworth Center as well as four expert guest speakers. Participants received hands-on technical training for Pompe disease, X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) and mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS I), including:

Dr. Kirsten St. George, Chief of the Laboratory of Viral Diseases at Wadsworth Center, was recently invited to speak at a technical workshop hosted by the Trust for Science Technology and Research of Puerto Rico, the Brain Trust for Tropical Diseases Research & Prevention, and the CDC Dengue Branch.

For the second year in a row, a Wadsworth Center director has received the Harry Hannon Laboratory Improvement Award in Newborn Screening from the Assocation of Public Health Laboratories (APHL). Joseph Orsini, Ph.D., Deputy Director of the Newborn Screening Program at the New York State Department of Health's Wadsworth Center, received the award at the APHL Newborn Screening and Genetic Testing Symposium in New Orleans. Last year, the award was presented to the Director of the Program, Michele Caggana, Sc.D., FACMG.

New York State Department of Health Press Release October 4, 2017

On August 16, 2017 Wadsworth Center’s Master of Science in Laboratory Sciences (MLS) Program graduates its fourth class. One component of Wadsworth Center’s mission is education. The work of this year’s three graduates links the MLS Program to the Center’s primary mission: public health.

“Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.” -Babe Ruth As any fan or parent who spends countless hours at the field can tell you, it’s baseball season. Just as the baseball stars we watch on TV have put decades of hard work into becoming the best in their field, so too have the Wadsworth Center staff who received national recognition at the annual Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) meeting this June. Their many contributions and exceptional leadership over the years make them all winners.