A poster presented by Ryan Jepson, clinical laboratory technical specialist, earned an "outstanding" rating at the recent National Conference on Laboratory Aspects of Tuberculosis.

Jepson’s poster, “Reduction of Time for Heat Fixation of Mycobacteria Smears,” was one of three selected as outstanding from the 19 posters exhibited at the Aug. 19 – 21 conference sponsored by the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) in San Diego. It also resulted in 20 requests from other public health labs for the Hygienic Laboratory protocol.

Jepson, the lead technologist for the TB/Mycology section, said the meeting provided an excellent forum for the Hygienic Laboratory to contribute to the national discussion of TB testing and prevention, as well as to learn from it. “The information will be used to streamline some of our processes within the TB section and hopefully assist in bringing in new technology for detection of Mycobacteria,” he said.

Mary DeMartino, interim director for the Disease Control Division, gave two presentations at the conference: "Is the Third Time a Charm? An evaluation of the Number of NAATs Required to Detect TB in a Smear Negative Patient" and "A Study in Collaboration between the Iowa TB Control Program and the State Hygienic Lab."

“It was quite an honor to be asked to present on the work conducted at the Hygienic Laboratory and to contribute at the national level in the area of TB testing,” DeMartino said.

Michael Pentella, Ph.D., former director of the Disease Control Division and now director of the William A. Hinton State Laboratory Institute in Boston, also gave two presentations dealing with Iowa’s TB laboratory: "TB Shared Services – Missouri and Iowa and Nuts and Bolts" and "Biosafety in the TB Lab."

Pentella praised the Hygienic Lab’s significant contribution to the area of TB diagnostics over the past two years and its position as a “tremendous resource of talent and knowledge that often goes unrecognized.”

The presentations are available on the APHL website.