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Experiences of Dr. Marc Dangers, Head of Product and Lab, Cerascreen GmbH in Schwerin, Germany.
Cerascreen is Germany’s leading supplier of send-in testing solutions, i.e. the customer will perform capillary blood sampling by themselves and the sample, either as Dried Blood Spots or other sample matrices, is then mailed to cerascreen’s central lab. For allergy diagnostics, cerascreen is offering panel tests with up to 80 allergens per customer as well as smaller panels of 1-2 allergens per customer. Currently, cerascreen performs allergy testing for a few thousand customers each month. We use the EUROLINE Allergy system including the EUROBlotMaster and the iSYS system for allergy and other parameters.
Dr. Dangers, why did you choose to work with EUROIMMUN? What characterises your cooperation with EUROIMMUN?
Since we have almost 20 years of experience in developing and using allergy IVDs and know about the inherent challenges, we were looking for a partner who is able to supply tests of the highest quality. EUROIMMUN fully covered not only all our needs with respect to product quality, but also regarding the level of automation. We already knew that reliability is a given thing with EUROIMMUN. As a lab catering to the end customer, we cannot afford any supply issues.
What made a real difference for us was the support, customer friendliness and impressive knowledge that our contacts at EUROIMMUN displayed from the very start of the evaluation up until routine production. We really appreciate it!
How did/does the introduction of the new system go?
We had a multi-staged introduction, which started with a discussion with a member of the EUROIMMUN Allergy Team, making in-depth discussion very easy. The next step was very important for us: a very detailed cost analysis of the system and the tests, looking at different scenarios. The results were very transparent and enabled informed decision-making.
We were able to discuss our requirements regarding workflows and LIS integration beforehand, and they were completely understood and already accommodated by the standard iSYS software.
The setup included a personal visit, checking out our facility and preparing the process. The technical setup itself which went super smoothly. A week after setup, we enjoyed a 2-day, very hands-on and intensive training of the staff on site. There is no question that the support regarding technical issues and application is top notch.
How has the new iSYS system simplified your daily routine? What features/benefits of the system are most relevant for you?
Coming from instrumentation running batches or tests, mainly microplate based, the biggest benefit for us is everything connected to the comprehensively engineered random access situation. This means the system indeed is super easy to load and re-load during the day, i.e. it is a genuine “walk-away” instrument. We simply add tests or samples as we go, and the instrument is doing things as we are expecting it to do them.
As a small to mid-sized lab, the size of the instrument was an issue for us. The iSYS instrument is fitting in nicely. This also applies to the packaging and size of kits. We can stock even the not-so-sought-after parameters easily. Furthermore, mixing different indications and parameters during the day is so straight-forward that we do not even have to think about it. The automated tracking of the shelf life is also a definite plus in this regard.
What do you expect for the future?
As our organisation and the range of tests at our own lab is growing, we would benefit from some additional parameters on the menu of the iSYS system. We’d be interested in a reliable and realistic roadmap for this extension so we could plan accordingly.
Thank you, Dr. Dangers, for sharing your experiences with the IDS-iSYS for allergology with us.
Find out more about our journey together, our allergy ChLIAs and the matching solution IDS-iSYS!
