The fungal fast track: Navigating culture-independent diagnostics

Description

Advances in culture-independent diagnostics are changing how invasive fungal infections are detected and managed. This webinar reviews recent developments in fungal biomarkers, targeted molecular assays, pan-fungal sequencing, and metagenomic sequencing, highlighting their strengths, limitations, and appropriate clinical applications.

Participants will learn how specimen selection, test performance, and clinical context influence diagnostic accuracy and how these technologies complement conventional culture-based methods. Practical recommendations for integrating emerging diagnostic tools into laboratory workflows and patient care will also be discussed.

Target audience

This activity is designed for lab supervisors, lab directors (and/or assistant directors), lab managers (supervisory and/or non-supervisory), fellows, and other laboratory professionals overseeing/conducting within this topic.

Learning objectives

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Examine the performance, advantages, and limitations of current fungal biomarker assays and targeted molecular tests.
• Identify clinical scenarios where pan-fungal and metagenomic sequencing add diagnostic value beyond conventional testing.
• Guide diagnostic stewardship of culture-independent fungal assays.

Faculty

Allison Haas, PhD, D(ABMM), MLS(ASCP)
Assistant Professor, Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine
Assistant Medical Director, Microbiology & Molecular Infectious Disease, Barnes-Jewish Hospital
St. Louis, MO

Disclosures and statement of independence

The Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine is dedicated to ensuring balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all educational activities. All participating planning committee members and faculty are required to disclose to the program audience any financial relationships related to the subject matter of this program. Disclosure information is reviewed in advance in order to manage and resolve any possible conflicts of interest. The intent of this disclosure is to provide participants with information on which they can make their own judgments.

The following faculty reported no financial relationships:

• Allison Haas, PhD, D(ABMM), MLS(ASCP)

Content validity

All recommendations involving clinical medicine are based on evidence accepted within the profession of medicine as adequate justification for their indications and contraindications in the care of patients; AND/OR all scientific research referred to or reported in support or justification of a patient care recommendation conforms to generally accepted standards of experimental design, data collection, and analysis.

Accreditation statement

This activity will be submitted for 1.0 ACCENT continuing education credits.

Successful completion statement

Verification of Participation certificates are provided to registered participants based on completion of the activity, in its entirety, and the activity evaluation. For questions regarding continuing education, please email [email protected].