The Texas State Society of Clinical Laboratory Scientists is a new student organization that was started by a group of CLS students. The first meeting of the Society was held September 12 and more than 30 students attended. The officers include Joanne Ellis, President, Stephanie Nelson, Vice-President, and Ashley Hernandez, Treasurer. The Society plans to have monthly meetings, invite guest speakers to talk about clinical laboratory science, visit laboratories and other healthcare facilities, participate in service projects, and prepare for competition in the Texas Association for Clinical Laboratory Science student bowl competition. The Society will also have some fund-raising activities throughout the year.

The Clinical Laboratory Science Program has been continuously accredited by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences since 1975. The program recently received a seven-year renewal of accreditation and will have its next site visit in 2012. Seven years is the maximum time that can be awarded. A site visit was conducted in November, 2005. The site visitors were Dr. Carol McCoy from Fairview Health Services, Minneapolis, and Dr. Maribeth Flaws from Rush Medical Center, Chicago.

CLS Receives Beckman Grant

The Clinical Laboratory Science (CLS) Program in the College of Health Professions at Texas State University-San Marcos recently was awarded a Beckman Coulter Genomics Educational/Research grant that allowed the addition of a CEQ 8800 automated capillary sequencer to complement a variety of other molecular based equipment. Assistant Professor Rodney E. Rohde, MS, SV (ASCP) is establishing a Clinical Molecular/Genomics Diagnostics laboratory for his research agenda in antibiotic resistant bacteria and virology (http://www.txstate.edu/~rr33). CLS students will also utilize the equipment in a variety of courses, including Molecular Diagnostics.

Genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics are powerful discriminatory tools for clinical laboratories in healthcare, research laboratories, and product development in the life sciences. The application of these tools requires extensive hands-on training with the technology associated with these multiple disciplines. In light of these trends, interdisciplinary approaches in educational curriculum are required to produce a new generation of clinical laboratory scientists (CLS) and biotechnology personnel for the healthcare, bioterrorism, and research communities to name a few. The Beckman Coulter Genomics Educational Grant (matched by Texas State monetarily and with resources from the Dean of the College of Health Professions) will help augment this approach for both programs in two major areas: (1) educational curriculum and (2) secondary research projects.

Importantly, the success of the Human Genome Project and other developments in genomics have led to immense and rapid change in the clinical laboratory, just as it has in the biological arena. The CLS disciplines (microbiology, hematology, immunohematology, clinical chemistry) and Biotechnology are merging with information sciences (computer science, bioinformatics, statistics, engineering). This presents a challenge to the scientific community, because it will require new approaches and new tools, and even new curricula, to train students to be successful as they enter scientific careers. We feel that this critical and important partnership between Texas State University and Beckman-Coulter will help meet this new and exciting challenge.