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Klinisk Biokemi i Norden · 1 2019
mining in clinical biochemistry
. Mads Nybo, Odense
University Hospital, illustrated the difficulties of
establishing a new biomarker with a picture of a per-
son standing at the foot of a mountain, not yet aware
that the journey ahead would implicate climbing the
hills of biomarker identification, assay interference,
pre-analytical variation, reference ranges, and so on.
During the following two hours he delved deep into
the quagmire of pre-analytical and post-analytical
factors, a really comprehensive lecture on this fun-
damental topic for a clinical biochemist. Finally,
Gunnar Nordin, Uppsala University Hospital, was
challenged with keeping the audience alert during the
last lecture of the day. In a comprehensible manner,
the pitfalls and merits of external quality assessment
was accounted for. After a long day of learning we
were treated to a delicious dinner at the restaurant
Madklubben. Some even dared to try flæskesvær,
pork rind, a Danish specialty. All in all, an enjoyable
end of the first day of the course.
Day 2
On the second day the topic of laboratory goldmi-
ning continued. Holger Jon Møller, Aarhus University
Hospital, presented the long, winding and sometimes
gruesome road that a new biochemical biomarker/
analysis has to travel before it can be put into clini-
cal use. In telling this he also explained why so few
new biomarkers come to commercial use, despite the
extensive research that is going on in the field.
Ruth Frikke-Schmidt, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen,
and Johan Frederik Berg Arendt, Aarhus University
Hospital, in separate lectures, then told us about
the unique opportunity Scandinavian laboratories
have to perform interesting research thanks to the
national registries. By combining information stored
in different systems, such as laboratory informa-
tion systems and national registries of health, novel
insights can be made and new knowledge acquired.
Ruth Frikke-Schmidt’s talk introduced the potential
of the Mendelian randomization design in provi-
ding understandings into the role of biomarkers in
health and disease. Sometimes described as a
natural
randomized trial
, Mendelian randomization studies
have contributed with such important knowledge
as the recognition of the causal role of LDL (or lack
thereof, such as is the case with HDL) in cardiovas-
cular disease.
The majority of the participants snapped during a break.
