In The Lab - Protein Electrophoresis
Summary
TLDRIn this insightful video, Andrew Chapman explores the role of proteins in diagnosing health conditions. Joined by experts from the University Health Network's (UHN) laboratory medicine program, they demonstrate the protein electrophoresis test, which uses electrical current to separate proteins in patient samples. This technique helps identify abnormal proteins, potentially indicating blood-related cancers or plasma cell disorders, and allows physicians to monitor treatment effectiveness by measuring protein levels over time.
Takeaways
- 🧬 Protein is present throughout the body and its levels can indicate health conditions.
- 🏥 The laboratory medicine program at Uhn is one of the largest in Canada, serving a significant number of patients.
- 🛌 The lab serves both inpatients and outpatients, with approximately 1,300 hospital beds and 400,000 outpatients annually.
- 📊 The lab performs around 25 million tests per year, providing a vast amount of diagnostic information.
- 🔬 The primary role of the lab is to offer diagnostic insights to healthcare professionals to aid in patient treatment.
- 🌐 The process of 'Protein Electrophoresis' is introduced, a test that uses electrical current to analyze protein charges in patient samples.
- 🚫 If abnormal proteins are detected, their size is measured to monitor changes over time, which can assist in diagnosis and treatment.
- 🔍 The lab uses a scanner to convert gel images into graphs, identifying normal and abnormal proteins for further analysis.
- 👩⚕️ Clinical biochemists, like Dr. Ivan Bagge, analyze the patterns in the test results to identify potential malignancies.
- 🩺 These tests are often ordered when physicians suspect blood-related cancers or plasma cell disorders in patients presenting certain symptoms.
- 🔗 The video encourages viewers to visit medlabprofessionals.com for more insights into the lab's operations and procedures.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the video script?
-The main focus of the video script is to explore the role of protein in the body and how protein tests, specifically protein electrophoresis, can be used for diagnostic purposes in a medical laboratory.
Who is Andrew Chapman and what is his role in the video?
-Andrew Chapman is the presenter in the video, who introduces the topic of protein's significance in the body and guides the viewer through the process of protein testing in a laboratory setting.
What is the significance of protein in the human body as discussed in the video?
-Protein is significant in the human body as it is present throughout and can indicate various health conditions depending on its quantity and quality. Abnormal proteins can be indicative of certain diseases.
Who is Tom Clancy and what is his role in the laboratory?
-Tom Clancy is the director of operations for the laboratory medicine program at UHN (University Health Network). He discusses the scale of the laboratory's operations and its role in patient care.
How many patients does the UHN laboratory medicine program serve annually?
-The UHN laboratory medicine program serves approximately 400,000 outpatients per year, with a total test volume of about 25 million tests.
What is the primary role of the laboratory in patient care according to Tom Clancy?
-The primary role of the laboratory in patient care is to provide diagnostic information to physicians, nurses, and clinicians, enabling them to treat patients effectively based on the lab test results.
What is protein electrophoresis and how does it work?
-Protein electrophoresis is a test that applies an electrical current to patient samples. Depending on the charge of their proteins, they will migrate towards either the positive or negative charge, allowing for the identification of abnormal proteins.
What happens if an abnormal protein is discovered during protein electrophoresis?
-If an abnormal protein is discovered, its size is measured to monitor whether the protein levels are increasing or decreasing, which helps physicians in diagnosing and treating the patient accordingly.
Who is Megan and what is her role in the video?
-Megan is a senior medical lab technologist who demonstrates the process of protein electrophoresis, explaining how the test is conducted and what the results indicate.
What is the next step after the samples have been electrically charged and stained in protein electrophoresis?
-The next step is to place the stained gel into a scanner, which takes a picture of the patient samples. This picture is then converted into a graph to analyze the presence of normal or abnormal proteins.
Who is Dr. Ivan Bage and what is his role in analyzing the results of protein electrophoresis?
-Dr. Ivan Bage is a clinical biochemist who is responsible for analyzing the patterns that appear on the graph resulting from the protein electrophoresis test, identifying any abnormalities that may indicate certain diseases.
Why would a physician order a protein electrophoresis test?
-A physician would order a protein electrophoresis test when they suspect a blood-based cancer or plasma cell dyscrasia in a patient, especially if the patient presents symptoms like bone pain or fractures.
Outlines
🧬 Protein Testing in the Lab
In this video script, Andrew Chapman introduces the importance of protein in the human body and how its levels can indicate various health conditions. He is joined by Tom Clancy, the director of operations for the laboratory medicine program at Uhn, who explains that their lab serves a significant number of patients both in and out of the hospital, conducting about 25 million tests annually. The lab's primary role is to provide diagnostic information through lab testing to help physicians and clinicians treat patients. The script also covers a specific test called 'protein electris', which involves applying an electrical current to patient samples to detect abnormal proteins. Megan, a senior medical lab technologist, explains the process of the test, which includes staining the gel and scanning it to identify normal and abnormal proteins. Dr. Ivan Bage, a clinical biochemist, discusses how the results are analyzed to identify patterns indicative of certain blood-based cancers or plasma cell disorders. The video concludes with an invitation to visit medlabprofessionals.com for more information.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Protein
💡Lab Medicine Program
💡Electrophoresis
💡Abnormal Protein
💡Diagnostic Information
💡Medical Lab Technologist
💡Clinical Biochemist
💡Malignancy
💡Plasma Cell Dyscrasia
💡Patient Samples
💡Medlab Professionals
Highlights
Protein is present throughout the body and can indicate health conditions based on its quantity.
Andrew Chapman and Tom Clancy discuss the role of the laboratory medicine program at Uhn.
The Uhn laboratory serves a large number of patients, both inpatient and outpatient, with a total test volume of about 25 million per year.
The primary role of the lab is to provide diagnostic information to healthcare professionals.
Megan, a senior medical lab technologist, introduces a test called protein electris.
Protein electris involves applying an electrical current to patient samples to detect abnormal proteins.
Abnormal proteins can be identified by their migration towards positive or negative charges.
Discovering an abnormal protein leads to measuring its size to monitor changes in the patient's condition.
Dr. Ivan Bage explains the process of analyzing protein patterns to identify abnormalities.
The test results are scanned and converted into a graph to visualize normal and abnormal proteins.
Abnormal protein tests are often ordered when a physician suspects a blood-based cancer or plasma cell disorder.
Patients with symptoms like bone pain or fractures might have an underlying malignancy detected through this test.
The protein electris test is crucial for identifying hidden malignancies in patients.
The laboratory medicine program at Uhn plays a vital role in patient care through diagnostic testing.
The lab's focus includes both inpatient and outpatient services, emphasizing the breadth of their impact.
The test's ability to detect abnormalities contributes to early diagnosis and treatment of serious conditions.
For more information on the lab's work and similar videos, viewers are directed to medlabprofessionals.com.
Transcripts
most of you have probably heard about
protein but did you know that protein is
throughout your body and can tell a
story depending on how much or little is
found we can learn a lot from protein
I'm Andrew Chapman and today we're going
to take a very very close look at what
your body is trying to say here in the
lab
[Applause]
[Music]
I'm in the lab with Tom Clancy the
director of operations for the
laboratory medicine program at Uhn
welcome Tom thank you thanks for having
us thank you now how many patients does
the laboratory of medicine program at
Uhn serve every year well the the lab
medicine program at Uhn is probably one
of the larger Laboratories within Canada
um as with most hospitals you service
two different types of patients you
service in patients or patients within
the hospital we have about 1,300 beds
here which uh constantly are being
turned over with patients and then we
have a big big focus on Clinic patients
but they're out outpatients which we
serve about 400,000 per year and our
total test volume going through all of
our Laboratories is about 25 million per
year wow that's amazing and what's the
lab's role in patient care so although
we do a lot of testing I think our main
role is providing diagnostic information
to Physicians nurses and and clinicians
so that they're able to treat patients
so I think we provide um mostly the
information through the lab testing that
we do I'm here with Megan who's the
senior medical lab technologist here in
the lab and today we're going to do a
pretty interesting test right yes we are
what's the name of this test it's called
protein electris okay and what are we
looking for in this test so what we're
going to do is we're going to apply an
electrical current to the protein to the
patient samples and depending on the
charge of their proteins they will
either migrate to the positive charge or
to the negative charge and from that we
can see if there's a abnormal protein or
if everything is normal and then what
happens if you discover an abnormal
protein if we discover an abnormal
protein what we'll do is we'll we'll
measure the size of the protein and that
way the physician they can monitor if
the abnormal protein is either
increasing or decreasing ining hopefully
decreasing and then that way they can
properly diagnose the patient and treat
them yes exactly all right Megan so
we've electrically charged the samples
yep put them on the gel now what happens
so now after we've stained the gel what
we're going to do is we're going to put
this gel into the scanner that's going
to take a picture of all of these
patient samples and that picture will
then be converted into a graph where we
can look to see if there's normal
proteins abnormal proteins
and if there are abnormal proteins we
can measure them I'm here with Dr Ivan
bage who's a clinical biochemist and
he's pretty much the next chain in
command after we take a look at the
results of all the abnormal proteins
right you analyze them yes indeed how do
you do that so generally we're looking
for the pattern that shows up so I think
Megan explained that the selector freees
will show all the proteins that are
present in the patient's serum or the
person's serum who's been run and then
we look at the pattern to see if there's
an abnormality present so why would a
test like this be ordered in the first
place so generally these tests are
ordered when the physician sees a
patient and they suspect a certain
blood-based cancer disease or plasma
cell disg graia as they're known in a
patient so patients that may present
with certain symptoms like uh bone pains
or fractures can have this malignancy
it's Myoma and various other ones as an
underlying cause so this test really is
the way to identify whether there is
malignancy hidden in these patients well
thank you doctor and thank you to the
laboratory and medicine program at Uhn
and if you want to see more videos like
this and to find out more of what goes
on in the lab please visit medlab
professionals.com
[Music]
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)