Technical Expertise

Specialty Sections

ARUP is one of the most automated laboratories in the United States. An 1,100 foot transport and sorting system with a capacity of 8,000 specimens per hour is one of the key elements. Equally important to our success are two automated sorters that load finished specimens into storage trays, and a two-story automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) which is housed at ARUP in the world’s largest clinical laboratory freezer. The AS/RS capacity exceeds 2.3 million specimens and individual specimens are robotically retrieved in less than 2.5 minutes. ARUP has also installed the world’s first automated thawing & mixing workcell. It thaws and mixes frozen specimens on the transport system at a rate of more than 1,000 per hour, thus reducing pre-analytical preparation time. ARUP is committed to developing cutting-edge automation that improves the overall quality of testing and reduces turnaround time.

• Additional Information: Learn more about ARUP's Pioneering Automation Initiative

ARUP’s Specimen Processing Laboratory receives and organizes all incoming samples using a workflow process known as the “single workstation.” In this process, one person follows a specimen from its arrival at ARUP to its laboratory destination. This means that one person performs the entire specimen receiving process — manifesting, test requesting, labeling, splitting, aliquoting, and placing the samples on the automated track. Specimen Processing also uses a rules-based computer software program known as Expert Specimen Processing or ESP. This program decreases order errors and improves turnaround time during processing. The Specimen Processing Laboratory uses a computer system that automates the process of specimen storage and retrieval. This system maintains accurate records of the exact physical location of each specimen in Specimen Processing, enabling quick retrieval when necessary. It also maintains control parameters that determine the proper length of time a specimen should be retained by ARUP, and manages the specimen-discard process.

The Medical Informatics group supports ARUP’s IT and R&D departments as well as clinical laboratories in improving information flow among ARUP, client laboratories, and ordering physicians. The Charting Committee reviews report formats for new and existing tests at ARUP and ensures that standards are applied across all methods of reporting and that relevant patient information is conveyed. This committee also focuses on specific client concerns and resolves those charting issues on a customized or global scale.

Medical Informatics includes the Digital Publications group, responsible for developing and maintaining ARUP Consult®: The Physician’s Guide to Laboratory Test Selection and Interpretation. Digital Publications also administers ATOP® Analyzing Test Ordering Patterns™, an analytics service which assists laboratories and pathology departments in identifying misuse of specific tests by local physicians.

Created in 1996, the ARUP Institute for Clinical and Experimental Pathology™ (the Research Institute) is part of ARUP's mission to continually improve the health care profession. The Research Institute seeks to expand the number, quality, efficiency, and sophistication of laboratory tests. Since its inception, the Research Institute has provided ARUP clients and physicians with an average of more than 30 new assays each year. Moreover, the research scientists have shared their knowledge, experience, and new developments with the scientific community by publishing more than 500 original peer-reviewed research publications in leading journals.

ARUP actively supports research and development through the ARUP Institute for Clinical and Experimental Pathology. The Institute’s mission is to be at the forefront of innovative research and development in clinical and experimental laboratory medicine and to continually contribute to the profession.

• Additional Information: Learn more about the Research Institute's research focus, initiatives, and publications

The main function of this department is to increase ARUP’s exposure to new test technologies developed outside of ARUP. Evaluations of new biomarkers and methodologies are coordinated through this department, and licenses are obtained for use of technologies at ARUP when they fit the esoteric focus and testing objectives of ARUP. New technology acquisitions range from oncology and cardiology markers, genetic disease markers, pediatric medicine, as well as advanced cellular, protein, and nucleic acid detection systems. This department works closely with ARUP’s medical directors and clinical production groups to evaluate the medical value and appropriateness of new technologies for the laboratory.

The Reagent Production Laboratory at ARUP prepares reagents for in-house use. The laboratory also produces assay kits that may not be commercially available, but are needed for patient testing, diagnosis, and management. This is especially true when new assays are in demand for patient care based on new discoveries in diseases and techniques, but are too early to have any commercial benefit for the industry. ARUP’s Reagent Laboratory consists of two major areas: reagent production and tissue culture. The major function of the Reagent Production Laboratory is to prepare reagents and various gels for protein and DNA electrophoresis and to assemble assay kits, whereas the Tissue Culture Laboratory provides cells for the Virology Laboratory and other uses.