Clarapath, a medical robotics company transforming the way pathology laboratories process tissue, announced it has entered into a strategic collaboration with Mayo Clinic to propel a new era of laboratory automation.
Clarapath says that for decades, laboratories have relied on labor intensive, manual procedures to process tissue specimens for purposes of diagnosing cancer and other diseases. Faced with labor shortages, quality control challenges, and the rapidly increasing volume of samples, laboratories need to innovate and improve the reliability and efficiency of creating glass slides for pathological review.
Clarapath’s SectionStar is an automated tissue sectioning, transfer and quality control system that combines robotics, computational AI, and integrated histopathology workflows, resulting in standardised slide outputs and quantitative quality metrics. This can significantly accelerate sample processing and reduce human involvement and errors.
The strategic collaboration combines Clarapath’s innovative tissue solution and domain experts with the clinical insights and expertise of Mayo Clinic. This will enable laboratories across the globe to digitally transform the quality, safety, cost, and throughput of their histology process.
The automation supports more informed and faster decisions that help improve the delivery and quality of patient care and allow existing laboratory personnel to successfully handle rising case volumes.Additionally, the companies will collaborate to develop new solutions to further improve the histopathology laboratory.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with Mayo Clinic to advance the modernization of anatomic pathology,” said Eric Feinstein, CEO of Clarapath. “Laboratories, like manufacturing plants, need constant innovation and modernization. With SectionStar, leaders can now reimagine the histology process to keep up with increasing caseloads and shrinking workforces. This will help patients get quicker test results and more immediate access to care.”
As part of the collaboration, Joaquín García, M.D., chair of the division of Anatomic Pathology within the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and chair of Mayo Clinic’s Digital Pathology Program, is joining the Clarapath Board of Directors. Mayo Clinic joins other leading organizations as Clarapath stakeholders.
“Mayo Clinic is at the leading edge of technological advancement in anatomic pathology. Incorporating digital pathology and artificial intelligence into our current practice has highlighted the need for standardizing pre-analytic processes,” said Dr. García. ” By working with Clarapath, we are building the foundation for a ‘lab of the future’ that incorporates end-to-end automation, robotics, and AI to the patient tissue lifecycle.”
