In our final coverage of the year for the IBMS Congress 2017, we congratulate the winners of the exhibition awards and the poster competition, while paying thanks to the Birmingham branch.
Menarini Diagnostics was set up in the UK 30 years ago and has been an active corporate member of the IBMS ever since. They used this milestone to celebrate in the theme of their stand design at Congress this year, including a birthday cake that IBMS President Ian Sturdgess was invited to cut.
On receiving their award, Brendan O’Dwyer, Business Unit Manager, Laboratory Division at Menarini Diagnostics, said: “We have always had a close relationship with the IBMS and were proud and delighted to be awarded as the Best Stall at Congress. The majority of our team have been, or still are, registered individual members and the company has been present at every Congress event over the years.
“This is the most important exhibition we attend – we have a wide portfolio of products and the multidisciplinary mixture of attendees at all levels of seniority and Congress presents a great opportunity to show these off.
“There is a great feeling of enthusiasm among the attendees. They are there primarily for the high-quality scientific programme, but definitely plan to enjoy themselves. We have the chance to develop relationships, give something back to our customers, and even transact some business. A fantastic event.”
Ian Sturdgess, IBMS President, said: “All of the judges were in agreement that Menarini were the worthy winners of our Best Stall award.
“Their stand, though simple in its design, was really appealing with a clinical, orderly appearance.
“The Menarini staff were also knowledgeable about the range of products they offered and always willing to engage with delegates who passed by their stall.”
Congress exhibition winners
At every Congress, a panel of judges, including the IBMS president Ian Sturdgess, Chief Executive Jill Rodney and the Company Members Liaison Group Chairman Mark Reed, attend the opening of the exhibition.
Touring the stands across the ICC, they judge each on appearance and the welcome visitors receive.
This year’s winners included Shell of the Year, which went to Aspect Scientific, who were attending for the first time, along with Stall of the Year, which was awarded to Menarini Diagnostic, who celebrated 30 years of business with a birthday cake.
Best Shell – Aspect Scientific
At their first Congress, the team at Aspect Scientific were promoting their EKF Altair 240 automated Biochemistry analyser, along with their services in providing and supporting ELISA automation systems from Dynex Technologies.
Andrea Horridge, Technical Support and Quality Manager at Aspect Scientific, said: “We saw Congress 2017 as a great opportunity to network and make many new contacts. We are proud to say it was a huge success on many different levels.
“A mixture of excitement, nerves, and awe at the scale and how impressive the exhibition looked took over as the team set up the stand. However, we soon felt at home, due to the welcoming and friendly atmosphere created by the organisers, exhibitors and delegates. It was fantastic to interact with so many medical diagnostics professionals on both a business and personal level.
“The icing on the cake came in the form of winning the award, presented to the team by IBMS President Ian Sturdgess. Ian, and the IBMS Company Members Committee commended the team on their approachability, product knowledge and engagement with visitors who came to the stand. It was a great surprise.
“We thoroughly enjoyed being a part of this year’s IBMS Congress. A huge thank you to everyone who visited us, and to the organisers and other exhibitors for making this such a fantastic event. We will see you at the next IBMS Congress, if not before.”
Ian Sturdgess, IBMS President, said: “We were warmly welcomed by the team at Aspect Scientific and their enthusiasm and willingness to discuss the range of instrumentation products they offer is what set them apart.
“It was also genuinely pleasing to see how elated they were on receiving their prize in their first year at Congress and we hope that this will be the start of a long and close relationship with the IBMS.”
Birmingham branch members at Congress
The volunteers from the IBMS’ Birmingham branch once again supported the functional running of this year’s Congress.
On Saturday, before the event started, they enthusiastically arrived to fill 3,000 delegate bags.
On every day – including the first ever Sunday programme – they were there to “meet and greet” a total of around 300 speakers. They helped them to register, get orientated and organised for the lectures, which took place across nine streams.
The volunteers were also on hand to manage the poster competition in Hall 4, with different categories of posters each day and different judging panels.
The branch volunteers also supported the front desk, dealing with delegate enquiries each day with a welcoming smile, happy to contribute to make everyone’s experience a memorable one.
Congress would not be able to run as efficiently as it does without their help. Their hard work and dedication is testament to the vital contribution that IBMS branches and networks make to the organisation. The IBMS wishes to thank them for their contributions to another successful event.
Poster competition
As part of the IBMS Congress programme, a poster competition was held each day to represent the best new ideas and research in the biomedical science disciplines.
The posters received this year for judging set a very high standard and made the judging process very difficult. With so many remarkable entries, the judges wish to thank all the poster presenters for their excellent contributions.
The IBMS wishes warm congratulations to all the poster winners (listed right), and thanks to all the poster presenters for setting a high standard at this year’s Congress.
The winners
- Chloe Jagpal, Coventry University, Haematology: The in vitro use of natural antioxidant oils (Cyperus esculentus, Nigella sativa) to reduce cell sickling in sickle cell anaemia
- Neil Kirkpatrick, Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service, Transfusion Science: A novel approach to human platelet antigen (HPA)-1 typing in the UK
- Jack Cowley, Cambridge University Hospitals, Molecular Pathology and Genomics: RNAlater as a molecular preservative for paraffin-embedded diagnostic tissues
- Lisa-Marie Newlove, Cellular Pathology: GATA3: use in triple negative breast carcinomas
- Mari Paul, Antrim Area Hospital, Cytopathology: Confirmed outcomes for HPV18-positive cases in HPV triage
- Paul Livingstone, Medical Microbiology: Isolation of bacterial predators which can kill clinically relevant pathogens
- Andrea Wilson, Viapath Analytics, Virology: Evaluation of a Mycoplasma genitalium TMA assay for diagnostic use
- Clare Jones, John Radcliffe Hospital, Clinical Chemistry: Analytical evaluation of PlGF and sFlt-1 for assessment of pre-eclampsia
- Charlotte Lee, King's College Hospital, London, Immunology: Skewed T follicular helper cell subsets in common variable immunodeficiency
- Vusumuzi Ncube, Frimley Health Foundation Trust, Education and Management: Review of post-analytic processes in a pathology network hub