1. technology and computing

The cutting edge
Volume: 17
Edition: 01
www.histosa.org.au
committee@histosa.org.au
A word from the Chair
2
Christmas Dinner photos
4
HGV Tasmanian conference review
7
Upcoming Events 2015
10
Committee
11
A word from the Chair
Where did the year go?
There was the successful quiz night and Mt Gambier Conference earlier in the year, then a
swag of interesting education sessions and the logo competition, culminating with the
Christmas function in December.
Nameste Restaurant again proved to be popular for a friendly, relaxed Christmas gettogether and was well supported by 29 locals and trade friends. A big thank you to the
Leica’s representatives Bianca Eaton and Wayne Wolfaardt and for donating much of the
wine for the evening.
The Logo competition was fiercely contested by representatives from all the pathology
providers and the eventual winner, as voted by the committee, was the design by Sarah
Minns from FMC. Congratulations to her for the design that captured our state and our craft
so well.
The committee underwent some changes throughout the year. We welcomed Fortunato
Marafioti and Felicity Drabsch to the committee and said goodbye to Rebecca Dyer. More
recently Angela Nuske also farewelled us to move to Victoria – we wish her the best for the
future and thank her for her large contribution to the success of so many events.
The year had its sad moment with the passing of John Dore. He was an inspirational
speaker and tutor on all matters of histology and we were fortunate to have him speak at our
conferences. He had a colourful career and lifestyle, travelled broadly and was a great
humanitarian. His enthusiasm to share his craft and knowledge is a rare quality – he will be
missed.
We are starting this year with the Quiz night on March 16th, followed by sessions in May,
June, August and October. We will keep you posted on the events as they draw closer.
Cheers
Alex Szabo
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Christmas Dinner 2014
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Meeting Reviews
HGV ‘Experience Tasmania’ Conference
We couldn’t have asked for better weather over the weekend that the HGV Histology
Conference in Tasmania was on! Picturesque surrounds and warm weather made it a great
location for a conference. The conference itself was great too, of course! As usual, there was
quite a focus on IHC. These presentations help to give a greater understanding of the scope
of IHC, since it is not something that everyone is involved in. There were also some
interesting case-studies presented, which give the audience insight into the difficult
diagnoses that pathologists are faced with at times.
There was a very interesting talk by Dane Hayes on a topic close to the heart of Tassie – the
Devil Facial Tumour Disease, which is devastating the Tasmanian Devil population. The
research into this cancer is important to ensure the survival of the species. The histology of
this tumour is difficult to characterise, so immunohistochemistry has been used to provide
more information. Hopefully, the dedication of Dane and his team will pay off and enable a
vaccine/treatment to be developed in time to save the species!
Another hit was the “Bring the Fab back into the Lab” session by Fiona Tarbet and Kerrie
Scott-Dowell. They put together a quiz using photos of histology slides with sub-optimal
sections and staining. The audience tried to work out what caused the problem. This was a
fun way of providing a lot of information on errors and problems encountered in the lab, and
how to trouble-shoot the cause of the problem.
The new Online RCPA Macroscopic Cut-up Manual was also explained and is an excellent
tool that should be utilised in every lab! There are multiple links to information on different
tissue types and includes videos and photos as well. This training tool will help to ensure
inter-lab consistency in training. Another topic of interest to Scientists performing cut-up is
the proposed RMIT Cut-up Program for complex specimens. The course, if introduced,
would give workers the opportunity to further their skills in Macroscopic Cut-up to include
complex specimens. This would have many benefits, including:
•
Acknowledge the skills of the scientist.
•
Provide career paths and opportunity for professional development.
•
Reward scientists who do complex specimen grossing by promotion to HP2 or above.
•
Increase quality (as technicians with strict training would be doing the grossing of
surgical specimens rather than pathologists who have had varying training in
grossing techniques).
•
Decrease time pathologists need to spend in the lab.
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The conference ended on a very interesting talk about Histology in the Congo. It was an eyeopening presentation of the difficulties faced with bringing pathology to a third world area.
From bringing in reagents and equipment and realising it is not there on arrival (the
pharmacy seemed to think it was their property), to getting enough power to run the tissue
processer all the way through to paraffin, to making an embedding mould out of steel and
hand pouring the wax… this process was no easy feat!
Bec Dyer – Adelaide Pathology Partners
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Upcoming Events 2015
HGSA Quiz Night, Highgate Girls Guides Hall
16th March
4th International workshop in Diagnostic Immunohistochemistry Coolangatta Qld/Tweed Heads NSW
21st-23rd March
HGSA Education Session @ RAH
4th May
7th National Histology Conference, Brisbane
5th-7th June
HGSA Education Session @ Clinpath
29th June
HGSA Education Session TBA
24 August
HGSA Education Sessions @ RAH
26 October
HGSA Christmas dinner, venue TBA
TBA
Got any suggestions for educational meeting topics or speakers? Do you have some
feedback on any events? Want to contribute to the cutting edge by writing a review?
Let the committee know by email committee@histosa.org.au
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Your Committee
Chairperson
Alex Szabo, SA Pathology FMC
Secretary
Ruth Davies, SA Pathology TQEH
Treasurer
Sharin Prakash, SA Pathology FMC
Editor
Peter Holt, Clinpath Laboratories
Committee member
Rod Coombe, SA Pathology RAH
Committee member
Fortunato ‘Nat’ Marafioti, SA Pathology FMC
Committee member
Emily Schneider, Adelaide University
Committee member
Felicity Drabsch, Adelaide Pathology Partners
Editorial Note
The Histology Group of South Australia includes advertisements in it’s newsletter at a very
reasonable cost ($75 per A4 page).for more information send an email to
committee@histosa.org.au
Peter Holt
Clinpath Laboratories
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