National Serology Reference Laboratory Workshop

2–5 August 2005, Hilton Adelaide, South Australia

The National Serology Reference Laboratory Workshop is now an established feature of the Australian annual scientific meetings calendar. We are grateful to the sponsors who support our workshop and offer firm prospects for another successful event in August 2005.

We now invite your participation in this important workshop for all laboratory scientists interested in quality and new developments. The Workshop offers an opportunity for laboratory scientists, manufacturers and distributors of diagnostic kits and reagents, regulators, quality assurers, students and others to interact and discuss advances and difficulties in laboratory science. Those who are in diagnostic laboratories, blood safety, regulatory or other laboratories should treat this workshop as a ‘MUST DO’.

The 2005 Workshop will build on the strengths developed in previous conferences. The poster and oral presentations format and breakout sessions will once again provide a relaxed but informative environment for exchanging information and ideas. Participants can expect to be part of a vibrant learning and networking experience, through interactive sessions promoting discussion and debate on the issues that surround in vitro diagnostics. We ask managers to encourage eligible scientists to apply for the Young Scientist Awards in 2005.

The Workshop will again feature prominent international speakers including two statistical consultants, Zoe C Brooks ART, who teaches for the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey, USA and Dan Tholen, MS, based in Michigan, USA. Zoe will be speaking on Quality Control in Serology and Nucleic Acid Testing. Dan will be speaking on Uncertainty of Measurement.

Discussions will concentrate on clinical serology, performance driven quality controls, measurement of uncertainty and the new regulatory framework for in vitro diagnostics, with these new regulations validation of laboratory tests will assume new importance.

Workshop Secretariat

Linda Tracey

National Serology Reference Laboratory, Australia, 4th Floor, Healy Building, 41 Victoria Parade, FITZROY VIC 3065, AUSTRALIA

Telephone: +61 3 9418 1117. Facsimile: +61 3 9418 1155. Email: linda@nrl.gov.au

2nd announcement – Program, registration and accommodation details – April 2005

Further information is available on the National Reference Laboratory website at: http://www.nrl.gov.au - please check it regularly!

This article was published in Communicable Diseases Intelligence Vol 29 No 1 March 2005.