Institute news: The latest

It is with sadness that Northwest Region IBMS reports the death of Chris Wall, Manchester Branch and Northwest Region committee member and Treasurer.

Christopher James Wall died in hospital on 29 October. For those who knew him, Chris was a straighttalking no-nonsense type of person, but there was also another fun-loving, extremely caring side to him. He was an extremely intelligent and respected man, who valued people, friendships and valued life.

After leaving school he worked in a bank, but soon got bored of that, so he applied to train as a lab technician at

Black Notley in Essex. The pay as a trainee lab technician wasn’t too good, so Chris decided to sign up to the medical corps of the army, where he could complete his training with better pay and various postings followed. After returning from

Cyprus, Chris and his family felt it time to put some roots down and create some stability. Chris got a job in a lab in Carlisle, but quite quickly got promoted and took the role of Chief Scientifi c Technical

Offi cer at Crumpsall Hospital. A further promotion saw him transfer to Hope Hospital in Salford, which is now Salford Royal

Hospital, here he rose to become the Principal MLSO.

Chris dedicated a large amount of his time not only to work, but also to lecturing and setting up and running the Clinical Biochemistry discipline on the BSc and MSc programmes in Biomedical Science at Manchester Metropolitan University. During the 1970s Chris’s input signifi cantly improved the pass rate for the IBMS Fellowship course in Clinical Chemistry, prior to the inception of the postgraduate programmes in 1986. He also performed duties for both the Manchester Branch and Northwest Region (IBMS), where he was highly respected. When he reached retirement age, he did retire, but then went back for a few years to work within the lab and continued his role as regional treasurer.

Chris enjoyed pub quizzing, football (he was an ardent supporter of Manchester United), skiing holidays, going to the Halle and the theatre (Les Miserable was a favourite) and of course canal holidays and the odd tipple of whisky.

Chris will be sorely missed by those whose lives he touched.

Joyce Overfi eld Northwest Region IBMS Committee (rtd) D.W. Eccleston Chairman Northwest Region IBMS

The IBMS prides itself on being a professional body that is run by its members for its members. It is currently looking for corporate members who will use their professional knowledge, leadership skills and experience to set the strategic direction of the Institute, shaping its future and ensuring it continues to meet its members’ needs.

The role of a Council member is hugely rewarding but requires signifi cant personal commitment and skills, strategic thinking, fi nancial understanding, passion for the work of the Institute and the ability to be a role model for the profession. Council members are high calibre leaders of the profession and candidates should be active in the profession at the time of standing for election, have experience of the work that the Institute does in terms of its examinations, and membership and ready to commit time and energy to supporting, progressing and promoting Biomedical Science.

Nominations for corporate members to participate in the 2022 elections to Council are now invited, as there are vacancies for two National and fi ve Regional members as follows:

Two vacancies - three-year term

Five vacancies - three-year term

Irish Region Scotland South West West Midlands Yorkshire

Find out more about becoming a Council member of the Institute by visiting the IBMS Council elections page where full details on this important role and eligibility criteria can be found as well as a link to the online application form. www.ibms.org/councilelections/

Debra Padgett is now in post as the IBMS President, after taking over from Allan Wilson at the start of the year.

Debra is passionate about promoting and recognising excellence in all IBMS members.

In her eight years as an IBMS Council member, she has advocated, listened, represented and addressed the issues that are most important to the IBMS membership at national, regional and local levels.

She started her career as a Medical Laboratory Assistant in microbiology and has successfully worked her way through the career grades to her current role as Clinical Pathology Lead at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

This means that she understands the many routes to achieve a senior management position within the profession, and how management decisions affect every member of the laboratory.

Her post encompasses provision of leadership and management with accountability for the delivery of cost-effective, high-quality, safe and sustainable services across the Northumbria health economy.

These responsibilities give her a strategic insight to deliver operational priorities both for her own trust and those of national programmes.

With Congress a month away, more than 30 new presentation and speakers have been added to the already packed line-up.

Among the additions are a plenary session by Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, who will be well known to all through his regular television briefi ngs throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new “Politics and Pathology” programme will open with a talk from Lord Bethell, who will be discussing the UK IVD industry’s response to the pandemic.

Congress will take place on 14–17 March at The International Convention Centre in Birmingham and the programme theme is “Linking learning to the laboratory” .

Delegate fee includes admission to all lecture sessions, scientifi c posters, the exhibition, lunch, morning and afternoon refreshments and a copy of the Biomedical Science Congress Handbook.

IBMS members are invited to enter nominations for the Buchanan Medal – the Royal Society’s fl agship prize in biomedical sciences.

The medal is awarded for distinguished contributions to the biomedical sciences. The award was created from a fund to the memory of the physician George Buchanan FRS, former Chief Medical Offi cer of the UK, and was fi rst awarded in 1897.

The medal is made of silver gilt, is awarded annually and is accompanied by a gift of £2000.

The Royal Society stated: “The Buchanan medal is open to UK, Commonwealth, Irish Republic citizens or those who have been residents for three or more years. There are no restrictions on career stage and nominations will remain valid and shall be considered by the award selection committee throughout three nomination cycles. Teams or groups may now be nominated for this award.

We are happy to receive nominations for the other medals and awards that have opened this year. Further details on the awards that are currently open for nomination can be found here.

“Nominations can be made through the Royal Society website and the nomination will go to the awards committee for deliberation as part of our 2022 medals and awards cycle. Nominators and nominees do not need to be fellows to either nominate or receive any of the Society’s awards.”

The Royal Society is hoping to encourage a greater pool of nominators to nominate their peers and colleagues, but also to encourage group nominations for all awards.

If you think you, a colleague or a working group within your trust or organisation has made an outstanding contribution to the fi eld, the IBMS recommends submitting an application for this prestigious award.

Nominations must be submitted by the deadline of 3pm on 25 February 2022.

IBMS Fellow and Virology Panellist Sarah Pitt wrote a brief guide breaking down COVID-19 testing following the spread of the Omicron variant.

She covered the range of tests to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus and how useful it is to understand what the results can and cannot tell you, especially in relation to the Omicron variant.

The piece says that each new variant of SARS-CoV-2 has some mutations in the N gene sequence, but so far these changes do not seem to affect LFD results.

For all variants of the virus – including Omicron – LFDs have very good reliability, though they are lower in accuracy than PCR tests.

The guidance goes on to state that PCR kits that tag the genetic code in three separate places – the ORF, S and N regions – are used regularly in UK laboratories. Changes in Omicron’s spike protein mean that certain primers are unable to fi nd the place they are designed to “tag” or attach to in the genetic sequence. This is because these sections of genetic code are no longer present in the Omicron variant – a factor which could lead to the delivery of a strange PCR result.

Sarah adds that scientists are considering using results with S gene target failure as “probable Omicron”.

The IBMS North Staffs branch has scheduled its annual general meeting for Wednesday 6 April. The event will start at 6.30pm on the Staffordshire University Leek Road campus