acf domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home2/firstmedlabs/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6170quadmenu domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home2/firstmedlabs/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6170“Throughout the pandemic, we’ve been proactive in fulfilling our staffing needs,” said Kevin Murdock, CEO and Founder of Premier Medical Laboratory Services. “To ensure that we continue to properly meet testing demands amid this new surge, we are looking to vastly expand our team and to provide jobs in the community.”
PMLS is a CLIA and COLA certified laboratory. They are the choice processing lab for Health and Human Services testing sites, and the trusted COVID-19 management partner for professional sports teams, schools, colleges, large corporations, and health departments across the nation. With an expanding team, they are inviting members of the Upstate community to join them in providing vital services and information, helping to battle COVID-19 and its new variants and to improve the future of healthcare with advanced medical diagnostics.
Currently, the lab is looking to fill the following positions:
Medical Laboratory Technician
Responsible for performing medical tests in the Molecular Lab. Does not need to be certified if a degree in Chemistry or Biology has been attained.
Responsibilities:
Qualifications:
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $18-$22 per hour
Medical Technologist
Requirements:
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $24-$28/hr
All positions located in Greenville, SC. Please email: HR@DIVMEDINC.COM to apply.
]]>In his latest role, he led the segment marketing and business development team responsible for integrating specialty labs, technology, and test launches that contributed to several hundred million in additional revenue growth. Jeff also oversaw the launching, branding, and commercializing of Lab Developed Tests (LTDS) over a period of 15 years for 25 test classes resulting in over $400M per year in revenue. He has founded, developed, and launched international partnerships to carry out his sales initiatives and maximize overall market share.
“I chose to work at Premier Medical Laboratory Services because they’re an innovative and nimble company with all of the components in place to make them a national leading specialty lab,” said Jeff Schmalz. “They lead with a forward-thinking approach to unmet needs within the healthcare industry and continually build on their capabilities to bring the most advanced medical diagnostics services for better patient outcomes…and that’s something I want to be a part of and advance forward.”
As a graduate and scholarship athlete from the University of Maryland, Jeff pursued an executive management MBA curriculum from the Kellogg School of Management. Since then, he has served as a board member for the Biomedical Marketing Association and successfully launched products at Abbot, Chiron, LabCorp, Digene, Bayer and Qiagen. He managed a team of 53 segment leaders, product managers, and marketing communication strategists by positive motivation, leading by example, and empowering them to make decisions and take initiative.
“We are at an integral phase in our growth here at Premier Medical Laboratory Services as a top lab with the mission to bring the most advanced diagnostics to our nation,” said Kevin Murdock, CEO and Founder of PMLS. “The level of talent and experience that Jeff Schmalz possesses will help us tremendously in fulfilling our vision of improving patient lives.”
]]>“We are completely honored for Brian to join the team,” said Kevin Murdock, CEO of Premier Medical Laboratory Services. “His experience and knowledge of the field is extremely valuable in propelling us forward to fulfill our capabilities as a laboratory. He is a powerful addition to Premier, aiding in our mission to continually improve patient care with the latest in science and innovation.”
Dr. Krueger spent six years at Labcorp where he developed their high throughput sequencing platforms and led molecular testing development during the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic; obtaining the first FDA EUAs for commercial lab testing, home collection, asymptomatic testing, and direct to consumer testing. His team also developed a whole genome sequencing assay that CDC used for performing national SARS-CoV-2 pandemic surveillance during his time at Labcorp. At Labcorp, he also developed products for commercialization in molecular oncology, molecular genetics, molecular microbiology, and non-invasive prenatal testing. He served as the Technical Director for 23and Me high throughput genotyping (2017-2020) and oversaw the development of high throughput sequencing assays for germline and infectious disease diagnosis among other accomplishments.
“I came to Premier because I was impressed with the molecular operation that the team has built to address the national need for SARS-CoV-2 testing,” said Brian Krueger, PhD. “Premier was the first lab in South Carolina to validate a COVID assay and invested early in the infrastructure to provide high quality testing. Premier has all of the pieces in place to expand their capabilities beyond SARS-CoV-2, and I look forward to being able to help bring new tests to the Premier menu and grow into other areas where there is an unmet need for testing.”
Dr. Brian Krueger says he’s most excited about Premier’s plans for expanding into direct-to-consumer testing and that one of the major lessons from the pandemic was that patients don’t necessarily have to visit their physician in person to receive high quality care. The expansion of home testing, telehealth and direct to consumer offerings that occurred during the pandemic has changed how people think about healthcare and he believes Premier has a great opportunity to be a leader in providing healthcare to customers on their own terms.
With expertise in high throughput molecular assay development, Dr. Krueger has led large scale genome sequencing operations at both Duke University and Columbia University Medical Center. He obtained his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Iowa in 2009. In addition to his accomplishments, he is also an author on 19 scholarly publications.
As Chief Scientific Officer at Premier Medical Laboratory Services Dr. Krueger oversees clinical assay development and ensures PMLS continues to maintain the highest of scientific standards.
]]>Senator Tim Scott’s staff visited our 40,000 sqft facility which houses leading-edge automation equipment and allows us to perform advanced medical diagnostics on a large scale. During the tour, CEO, Kevin Murdock, discussed with Senator Scott’s staff all that we’re doing here for the improvement of healthcare throughout South Carolina and the US at large, what we’ve done to create South Carolina jobs, and how we have applied the latest in science and technology to overcome infrastructure restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More recently, Former Congressman and South Carolina Governor candidate, Joe Cunningham, visited to tour our facility and discussed our broad menu of medical testing services, how we’re continuing to help in the COVID-19 response both on a state and national level, as well as our plans to impact the diabetes epidemic with the only predictive genetic test for type two diabetes in the nation.
Both visits were a great opportunity for Senator Scott and Congressman Cunningham to know about all that is being done right in their home state of South Carolina to improve healthcare for the US. We were honored to have them join us and look forward to seeing what we can do together for patient care.
]]>Greenville, SC June, 17 2021 – US Senator Lindsey Graham recently viewed one of the largest variant surveillance initiatives in the nation currently underway at Premier Medical Laboratory Services (PMLS). At the PMLS facility, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) enables the collection of data needed to study the efficacy of current COVID-19 vaccinations and the detection of new mutations of the SARS CoV-2 virus; like that of the Delta variant which has rapidly spread through India and the UK and now is present in the US. With the capability to monitor 84,000 COVID samples per week, the laboratory has the technology to allow the CDC and state health departments to detect this variant’s spread in the US along with any other novel variants of SARS CoV-2.
“This lab, right here in South Carolina, is testing variants for the entire country, and they are one of the first labs to invest heavily in variant testing to make sure that if there is a second comeback of the virus, we will get ahead of it.” Senator Graham stated alongside Kevin Murdock, CEO and Michael Conroy, VP of Compliance of PMLS. Senator Graham went on to speak about the new and emerging variants including the Delta strain, saying that, “Viruses try to survive. They will replicate. They will try to penetrate the vaccines. This is a war between science and the virus, and the virus is very clever.”
According to Dr. Fauci, the Delta variant may be associated with a higher risk of hospitalization and is more contagious than the original COVID-19 strain – Approximately 40% more contagious, but scientists are still trying to pin down the exact number, with estimates ranging from 30% to 100%, as reported by UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock.
Recent NIH studies have shown that while two doses of the Pfizer vaccine were 88% effective against the Delta variant, two doses of the AstraZeneca shot were only 60% effective against the strain. With just under half of the American population having not been vaccinated, as of June 3, Next Generation Sequencing is vital in continued efforts to contain the virus and to keep hospitalization rates low.
Senator Graham expressed that that PMLS has both provided tremendous capability to the public sector for the nation’s COVID response and that it allowed the population to get on with their lives, as the more testing that is conducted, the more is understood about the nature of the illness. Along these same lines, to help the US continue in its progress made against the COVID-19 virus, Premier Medical Laboratory Services plans to provide the data on the new variants that is now needed with their expansive Next Generation Sequencing initiative.
Sources:
]]>Public Health Research Institute at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and Premier Medical Laboratory Services (PMLS) have conducted studies on the stability and viral inactivation properties of the Truckee Applied Genomics (TAG) TAG-NGPM+ virus inactivating media. The studies show that the non-flammable solution contains a chemical make-up which may increase both room temperature stability and freeze-thaw integrity. This means that the specimen is better preserved during transit to a testing laboratory, and as a result, could increase the accuracy of testing results while decreasing the number of samples ruined by temperature changes. Rutgers’ data also shows that the patented TAG-NGPM+ inactivates SARS-CoV-2 in the specimen, making it safer for transport and handling by laboratory staff.
“PMLS is proud to participate in this collaborative effort with such great institutions as Rutgers and Truckee Applied Genomics,” said Austin Shirley, Director of Operations for Premier Medical Laboratory Services. “Effectively inactivating the SARS-CoV-2 virus and other pathogens before transporting them to labs, while also making the testing more accurate and the handling of the media safer, is a tremendous innovation in specimen collection.”
The TAG-NGPM+ media was developed based on the patented TAG-1™ Class 1 General Reagent. TAG-1 is a formaldehyde-free tissue fixative that was designed to improve molecular tests while requiring no changes to pathology workflows. The TAG-NGPM+ formulation adds sufficient and complementary anti-viral and anti-bacterial components. These components improve the safety of viral sample handling and provide safer and less costly media handling compared to other virus inactivating media since TAG-NGPM+ contains no guanidinium salts.
The studies conducted by PMLS show that the TAG-NGPM+ solution can also be used as an optimal transport media for COVID-19 sample testing. There was a 5 log10 reduction in the viral titer after treatment of SARS-CoV-2 virus with TAG-NGPM+ buffer within 30 minutes while the integrity of the viral RNA remained intact. This might potentially help centralized core laboratories and Point of Care (POC) laboratories safely process patient samples when access to BSL II facilities is limited. Another major advantage the buffer offers is in safe disposal in any disinfectant including 10% bleach solution, since the media is free of hazardous reactive chemicals like guanidinium isothiocyanate (GITC).
Drs. Padmapriya Banada and Sukalyani Banik conducted the studies in the Alland laboratory at Rutgers NJMS. According to Dr. Banada, “the TAG-NGPM+ transport media can potentially reduce the biohazard risk associated with COVID-19 testing, as practice that could otherwise expose laboratory personnel to live SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The study showed that the transport media inactivated SARS-CoV-2 at both room temperature and under refrigeration conditions at the tested concentrations. Studies by PMLS also showed that the transport media prolonged sample stability. By improving the safety and stability of COVID-19 test samples, the transport buffer should greatly simplify on-site or point of care testing in settings such as doctor’s offices, workplaces or schools”
Dr. Tian Yu, TAG VP of Product Development commented, “TAG-NGPM+ virus inactivation media was designed to increase lab staff safety, while eliminating the need for a cold chain and protecting RNA integrity for weeks at ambient temperature. Because TAG-NGPM+ is designed to better stabilize viral RNA fragments and preserve protein structures, it will enable additional testing formats on top of molecular testing which are known to show high specificity in COVID19 diagnosis.“
The article by Rutgers NJMS and PMLS demonstrating their research findings is soon to be published. For more information, please call 866-405-2199 or visit www.firstmedlabs.com.
]]>When speaking on Pfizer’s ability to adjust the vaccine for effective inoculation against the new variants, a Pfizer Executive said Saturday, “You can basically, within a couple of weeks, put a new sequence in.” In order to make these adjustments to vaccines, scientists developing them need genomic sequencing data on a large scale, like that being produced by PMLS.
Scientific Director of Clinical Genetics for PMLS, Vidhya Narayanan commented, “Sequening information and population studies can give us vital information regarding evolution of the COVID 19 virus and transmission pattern which otherwise can go unnoticed.”
The COVID-19 virus is structured so that inside each nucleocapsid protein is the viral genome, which over time can mutate for the virus to be more efficient at spreading and to potentially cause more severe illness than the original strain. Genomic sequencing decodes the genomes to learn about the virus and how it is evolving. Standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) COVID-19 tests, which are most widely used for detection of the COVID-19 virus, are very specific to detecting the pathogens of the original COVID-19 strain. Next generation sequencing is able to detect new pathogens so that epidemiologists can study viral genome mutations to understand how they affect the viral characteristics of COVID-19 and to determine future health implications the novel variants may cause.
Because library prep instruments and genomic sequencers are in short supply, many laboratories spend hours conducting library prep and sequencing manually. With high throughput genomic sequencers and library prep instruments that automate the library prep and sequencing process, PMLS achieves a much higher capacity for genomic sequencing. By monitoring an exponentially higher amount of specimens, PMLS is better equipped to provide meaningful analysis with larger amounts of data and faster turnaround times for the effective surveillance of SARS-CoV-2.
“We want to be proactive with these new variants in case any adjustments need to be made within the healthcare industry for patient care or new safety protocols need to be put into place,” said Kevin Murdock, Founder of Premier Medical Laboratory Services. “Data is the most vital piece in beating this pandemic, so we made this a top priority to aquire the most advanced sequencing equipment and top scientists to help monitor them.”
Of growing concern, among other variants, is the Indian variant (B.1.617), which has spread to the UK and made landfall in California approximately two weeks ago. This variant is potentially the catalyst for a recent surge of cases in India and is believed to have more rapid rates of transmission than the original strain like the UK variant (B.1.1.7) that is estimated 50 percent more than the standard form of SARS-CoV-2 which is also been shown to cause higher mortality rates. (1,2)
Other current known variants:
The high-volume sequencing being conducted at PMLS follows suit with COVID-19 testing solutions they have provided as a laboratory with one of the highest testing capacities in the nation. Their ability to test over 300,000 specimens per day for COVID-19 paired with their rapid turnaround of accurate results is why they are the chosen laboratory to conduct testing for Human Health Services surge sites, large organizations, schools, athletic teams, and state health departments across the US.
According to the CDC, genomic surveillance can help detect variants with:
Sources:
]]>To read the full article, please click here: https://bit.ly/3g61lE8
]]>Diversified Medical Healthcare (DMH), a holding company with four subsidiary healthcare companies, Premier Medical Laboratory Services (PMLS), CPT Medical, OnGen, and Vessel Medical, has provided leading-edge solutions to combat COVID-19 nationally, addressing supply chain gaps and infrastructure restrictions caused by the virus. Their molecular diagnostics laboratory, PMLS, became the first lab in South Carolina validated as an independent COVID-19 testing lab one year ago. Just as PMLS achieved this validation for testing shortly after the first case was reported in the US, they continue to meet demands caused by COVID-19 as they arise with their laboratory staff of over 360 employees and in-house research and development team of Ph.D. scientists. Along with large scale testing via state of the art automated lab equipment, DMH companies developed advanced software for most efficient data management, distributed customized PPE supply kits, and manufactured COVID-19 testing kits as well as viral transport medium that properly preserves specimens during transit.
“Since COVID-19 became a threat to our nation, we quickly streamlined our workflow, hired employees, validated various coronavirus assays, and purchased the equipment needed to test a large volume of specimens with the highest quality standards,” said Kevin Murdock founder of Diversified Medical Healthcare. “With our laboratory having one of the highest testing capacities in the nation, an in-house medical manufacturing firm, a lab equipment company, and data management software company, we feel that it’s imperative to do our part to help keep the country open and our citizens safe.”
At this one year mark, PMLS has processed over one million (1,000,000) tests to determine COVID-19 results for patients nationwide. With their highly advanced laboratory information management system (LIMS) created by OnGen, data is communicated directly from high throughput laboratory equipment for fast, accurate storage and delivery of data to healthcare providers and patients. Many of PMLS’ lab processes are automated to allow them a testing capacity of 300,000 tests per day. With this scalability, PMLS has enabled other laboratories and testing sites to increase their testing capacity and turnaround of results with Virtual Lab. An innovative COVID-19 testing solution to overcome laboratory infrastructure restrictions, Virtual Lab allows these facilities to utilize PMLS’ fully-automated robotic workflow and team of 360 employees to largely increase their testing capacity and efficiency while bypassing the need to purchase new equipment or endure waiting time of weeks or more for shipping, installation, and validation. Along with helping other labs, hospital systems and large organizations to test more patients, Diversified Medical Healthcare has donated hundreds of thousands of masks to local law enforcement, paramedics, fire departments, hospitals, and the Shriners organization and has provided free testing to first responders during the pandemic.
As another means to aid laboratories, healthcare systems, and large organizations in the expansion of their COVID-19 testing, Vessel Medical offers Lab in a Box, turnkey lab equipment that comes with everything needed for professional laboratory level diagnostics for COVID-19, Flu A and B, upper respiratory, STD/UTI, cancer risk screening, pharmacogenomics, and antibiotic resistance testing. Developed by leading scientists and technicians in partnership with Hamilton Company, Thermo Fisher, and Grenova, Lab in a Box enables a high capacity of onsite diagnostics for hospitals, expanding laboratories, schools, and large companies in need of quick and accurate testing results. With precision robotic instruments, lab in a box includes high throughput liquid handling along with automated, custom-programmable pipetting that decreases human error and result turnaround time.
Another DMH company, CPT Medical, shifted their production of surgical supplies to include manufacturing of COVID-19 testing kits since the beginning of the pandemic. CPT Medical is now capable of manufacturing 60,000 test kits per day and works in conjunction with PMLS to offer customizable testing to large organizations. Some of the large organizations that PMLS has partnered with as the official COVID-19 testing lab are the United Soccer League (USL) and Division I/Division II teams in 7 collegiate conferences as well as large schools and business organizations across the US. PMLS is also the processing lab for Human Health Services surge sites and state health departments in South Carolina, Arizona, Utah, and North Carolina and is the Blue Cross Blue Shield preferred COVID-19 testing lab in Texas, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Through all of these partnerships, PMLS has continued in their reputation of delivering the most advanced testing with rapid, reliable results, and diligent customer care.
Now, as vaccines are administered and restrictions on social distancing are being lifted, PMLS is conducting a critical large scale genomic sequencing for the surveillance of new COVID-19 variants, taking proactive measures so that a future surge of a mutated Sars CoV-2 strain is less likely to occur. The data collected from genomic sequencing can help pharmaceutical companies to stay ahead of the variants and make any changes needed to the current vaccines and treatments for higher efficacy and best patient outcomes. With PMLS’ high throughput genomic sequencers and library prep instruments that automate the library prep and sequencing process, a much higher capacity for genomic sequencing is achieved and margins of human error are drastically reduced. By sequencing an exponentially higher amount of specimens, PMLS is better equipped to provide meaningful analysis with larger amounts of data and faster turnaround times for the effective surveillance of SARS-CoV-2. PMLS is in discussions with the CDC and multiple states across the nation to provide COVID sequencing services at ports of entry and local and regional hotspots. Along with this and their previous accomplishments, more groundbreaking COVID-19 solutions by Diversified Medical Healthcare are soon to be announced.
]]>For more information, please visit https://publichealth.yale.edu/salivadirect/
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