Toxicology Laboratory at UC San Diego School of Medicine Joins Center of Innovation Program

At a ceremony at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, Waters Corporation officially welcomed the university’s Center for Advanced Laboratory Medicine into the Waters Centers of Innovation (COI) Program. Under the direction of Professor Robert Fitzgerald, Director of Toxicology and Associate Director of Clinical Chemistry, the laboratory develops, validates and implements liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) diagnostic tests, including broad spectrum screens for drugs of abuse, therapeutic drug monitoring and vitamin D testing.

”We are very excited that Waters Corporation has recognised our department’s work in developing mass spectrometry-based tests for the clinical laboratory,” said Dr Steven L. Gonias, Chair of the Department of Pathology in the UC San Diego School of Medicine and Chief of Pathology, at UC San Diego Health. “Dr Fitzgerald and Dr David Herold of the UC San Diego School of Medicine have contributed landmark studies focused on improving the accuracy of diagnostic tests by applying mass spectrometry in new and innovative ways. The potential to further improve patient care through the expanded use of mass spectrometry is indeed impressive.”

In his role, Dr Fitzgerald oversees the activities of three clinical laboratories for UC San Diego Health which together perform more than 4.5 million assays annually. Dr Fitzgerald’s laboratory utilises several Waters tandem quadrupole and quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometers, including the Xevo® TQ-S, Xevo G2 QTof™ and ACQUITY®TQD.

“Waters has been an outstanding partner for us and has fully supported us with robust instrumentation and solid technical support,” Dr Fitzgerald said. “I am particularly excited about the aspect of our collaboration with Waters that allows us to train the next generation of leaders in clinical chemistry, a field in which mass spectrometry is becoming increasingly important.”

“It’s a pleasure to welcome the UC San Diego School of Medicine into our COI Program. Largely due to the efforts of scientists like Dr Fitzgerald and his colleagues, the value of LC and MS in the clinical laboratory has been clearly proven and is having lasting benefits in the clinic,” said Eric Fotheringham, Director of the Waters Centers of Innovation Program.

To salute the work of Professor Fitzgerald and the Center for Advanced Laboratory Medicine, Waters Corporation is sponsoring a clinical science symposium. Titled Mass Spectrometry in the Modern Clinical Laboratory, the event features presentations by noted experts in clinical chemistry.