In recent years, larger currents in precision medicine have influenced some interesting trends in the development of devices and facilities for bioanalytical procedures. One important aspect of this is the rise of microsampling, which has spurred such developments as remote and home blood collection. (Microsampling procedures do not require patients to travel to clinics for blood sampling.)

Pediatricians, hospital lab directors, and others in the field of pediatrics are devoted to driving forward the best innovations in medical care for children, those who constitute the future of humanity and of our society. Here are some of the innovations just around the bend, expected to revolutionize the field of pediatrics.

Thanks to ongoing advances in technology, it is now feasible to get an enormous amount of data from very small amounts of biological fluid. And yet, until recently, there wasn't a good way to collect these small specimens.

Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) is a procedure used to help in determining the concentration of drugs in the blood. More broadly, TDM describes a branch of clinical chemistry that works in collaboration with other fields, including pharmacokinetics as well as pharmacogenomics. The discipline of TDM is expected to report some significant developments in the coming years. The following are some of the projections and important transformations expected of TDM sooner than later.

We have witnessed a growing interest in the use of Mitra® microsampling devices and VAMS™ technology in the areas of small molecule bioanalysis and therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM), particularly with regard to antiepileptics. Research has been conducted by esteemed scientists such as Drs. Christophe Stove and Ugo de Grazia, and by well-known entities such as York Bioanalytical and Altasciences. Four new methods from all are now available for all those inclined to follow their lead.

Automated extractions are one of many breakthroughs in microsampling technology that are currently altering the procedures and business of blood collection.