Posters reflect the latest, leading-edge science and best practices, and are a perennial favorite among AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo attendees, and the 68th AACC Annual Scientific Meeting is no exception. This year, nearly 800 abstracts will be showcased during the course of 2 days—Tuesday, August 2, and Wednesday, August 3—covering 21 areas of clinical laboratory practice.

With so much good science to see, AACC division-led poster tours have quickly become a popular way to experience abstracts. There are 10 this year, in which an AACC division officer will highlight several abstracts and discuss the importance of the findings and their implications for future research or clinical practice. Poster walks are free, limited to about 20 to 30 participants, and last about 30 minutes. Participants must have a full or daily conference registration. 

CLN Stat reached out to a couple of tour guides to learn more.

Maria Alice Vieira Willrich, PhD, DABCC, of the Mayo Clinic, and the education coordinator for AACC’s Clinical and Diagnostic Immunology Division, plans to highlight four abstracts in the area of clinical diagnostic immunology. She hopes to have the authors give a 10-minute overview of their work, leaving time for questions.

This is Willrich’s first year giving a tour, and it fits right in with her preferred educational method: learning from others. “I enjoy interacting with peers, asking questions together, and engaging in scientific discussions,” she said. “I hope the poster tours are a good forum for that!”

For a tour of critical and point-of-care testing, join Sarah Brown, PhD, DABCC, FACB, of the Washington University School of Medicine, and the AACC Critical and Point-of-Care Testing (CPOCT) division’s treasurer. She loves the tours because, she said, “it’s a fantastic way to see the posters. Being with a tour group allows you to focus on a few posters and dig in deep. You experience great discussions of popular topics with your peers.”

Brown said she always comes away with ideas for quality improvement projects, changes to procedures, new assays, and other projects. “I also usually make a few new friends.”

She plans to pick three posters, including the CPOCT division poster award winner. “I try to pick one addressing a current hot topic, then one that is of particular interest to me. Then, in any remaining time, we’ll pick one as a group.”

This year, in a change from the past, posters will be in the Terrace Ballroom at the Pennsylvania Convention Center rather than right on the Expo floor.

If abstracts and poster tours catch the excitement of research advances and peer-to-peer discussions on science and best practices, student poster abstracts,  oral presentations and the student poster contest take this energy and interaction to a whole new level. Presentations of the four top-scoring student abstracts are slated for August 1 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., followed by the student poster contest.

Presenters include:

  • Mohammad Alyamani - A Novel LC-MS/MS Method for the Quantitation of Abiraterone Metabolites in Patients with Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: Innovation of Separation of Diastereoisomers Without Using a Chiral Column
  • Sarah R. Delaney - Drug Monitoring of Methotrexate in Breast Milk: Understanding Transport from Cells to Humans
  • Garret R. Mullins - Smartphones Can Monitor Medical Center Pneumatic Tube System Parameters
  • Joesph R. Wiencek - Clinical Utility of Aldosterone, Renin Mass and the Aldosterone/Renin Mass Ratio for the work up of suspected Primary Aldosteronism

This part of the conference provides an exciting opportunity for young laboratorians to present their science and receive great exposure early in their careers.

Poster Sessions

Tuesday, August 2

9:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.

  • Cancer/Tumor Markers A-001 – A-062
  • Cardiac Markers A-063 – A-094
  • Clinical Studies/Outcomes A-095 – A-160
  • Endocrinology/Hormones A-161 – A-238
  • Factors Affecting Test Results A-239 – A-278
  • Hematology/Coagulation A-279 – A-302
  • Immunology A-303 – A-340
  • Mass Spectrometry Applications A-341 – A-390
  • Nutrition/Trace Metals/Vitamins A-391 – A-400

Wednesday, August 3

9:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.

  • Animal Clinical Chemistry B-001 – B-006
  • Automation/Computer Applications B-007 – B-033
  • Electrolytes/Blood Gas/Metabolites B-034 – B-045
  • Infectious Disease B-046 – B-114
  • Lipids/Lipoproteins B-115 – B-129
  • Management B-130 – B-182
  • Molecular Pathology/Probes B-183 – B-219
  • Pediatric/Fetal Clinical Chemistry B-220 – B-240
  • Point-of-Care Testing B-241 – B-282
  • Proteins/Enzymes B-283 – B-301
  • TDM/Toxicology/DAU B-302 – B-347
  • Technology/Design Development B-348 – B-373

More information about the poster sessions and poster tours is available online.