title: Advancing the education in molecular diagnostics: the IFCC-Initiative "Clinical Molecular Biology Curriculum" (C-CMBC); a ten-year experience.
abstract: Molecular techniques are becoming commonplace in the diagnostic laboratory. Their applications influence all major phases of laboratory medicine including predisposition/genetic risk, primary diagnosis, therapy stratification and prognosis. Readily available laboratory hardware and wetware (i.e. consumables and reagents) foster rapid dissemination to countries that are just establishing molecular testing programs. Appropriate skill levels extending beyond the technical procedure are required for analytical and diagnostic proficiency that is mandatory in molecular genetic testing. An international committee (C-CMBC) of the International Federation for Clinical Chemistry (IFCC) was established to disseminate skills in molecular genetic testing in member countries embarking on the respective techniques. We report the ten-year experience with different teaching and workshop formats for beginners in molecular diagnostics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Athens, Athens 15771, Greece.
authors.forename: Evi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lianidou
authors.affiliation: Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Microbiology, HELIOS Klinikum Wuppertal, Witten/Herdecke University, 42283 Wuppertal, Germany.
authors.forename: Parviz
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ahmad-Nejad
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Diagnostics, Department of Pathology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298-0248, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferreira-Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Saga Medical School, Nabeshima, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Izuhara
authors.affiliation: San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Genomic Unit for the Diagnosis of Human Pathologies, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cremonesi
authors.affiliation: Institute Pasteur de Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay.
authors.forename: Maria-Eugenia
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Schroeder
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Forensic Sciences, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Richter
authors.affiliation: San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Genomic Unit for the Diagnosis of Human Pathologies, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.affiliation: Institute for Clinical Chemistry, Medical Faculty Mannheim of the University of Heidelberg, 68167 Mannheim, Germany. Electronic address: michael.neumaier@medma.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Neumaier
mesh_terms: D002624:Chemistry, Clinical; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D007390:International Agencies; D057089:Pathology, Molecular / Q000193:education*
keywords: Education in molecular diagnostics; IFCC; Training courses; Workshop program