Testing Laboratories NAICS 541380

Mar 10, 2025 - Asset Tracking in Labs Needs Technology Upgrades

• About 60% of laboratory professionals in the US say that unplanned downtime from an inability to properly track lab assets is their biggest challenge, per a survey of 400 testing labs of all sizes from Internet of Things (IoT) services company MachineQ. Technological advancements have put pressure on laboratories to deliver faster results while maintaining higher standards of accuracy and precision. Asset tracking in labs is an operational method to ensure all equipment and lab space needed to complete an experiment is scheduled and locked down throughout a testing regime. Bad asset tracking can kill both efficiencies and compromise testing. Of the labs surveyed by MachineQ, 56% manually tracked assets, 14% had no system at all, and a mere 30% used real time monitoring. The survey also showed that only 29% of respondents used AI to compensate, but 87% plan to implement it within the next year.
• Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a new method of identifying emerging variants of viruses and bacteria that spread in humans, according to Lab Manager. Samples from humans infected with diseases such as flu, COVID-19, tuberculosis, and whooping cough are analyzed using genetic sequencing data to reveal genetic changes that underlie the emergence of new variants. The new system uses “family tree” data to identify new variants quickly based on how much a pathogen has changed genetically and its potential to spread in human populations. The existing method for determining new pathogen variants relies on groups of experts to decide when a bacteria or virus has changed enough to be designated a new variant.

• Johns Hopkins University researchers have developed a fast and accurate nanostructure-based tool for the early detection of heart attacks. The invention has a tiny microchip with a novel nanostructured surface that can detect heart attack biomarkers in blood within minutes. Heart attacks are often difficult to detect quickly because they involve tools such as electrocardiograms and lab work. The device developed by the Johns Hopkins team was developed for clinical settings but could be adapted for use in the field by first responders or eventually in the home.
• Sales growth in the testing laboratory industry is estimated to have softened further in 2024 after a slowdown in 2023. The industry’s year-over-year sales growth fell to 7.7% in 2023 after posting an increase of 14.3% in 2022, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc. Testing lab industry sales growth is projected to have risen 3.7% in 2024 and is projected to be flat in 2025, then see steadier average annual growth of about 4.3% through 2028, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc.