Department of Clinical Laboratory
Department of Clinical Laboratory

The Clinical Laboratory is a comprehensive medical laboratory integrating clinical services, teaching, and scientific research. It serves as a training base for clinical laboratory physicians in Guangdong Province, the vice-chair unit of the Guangdong Society of Laboratory Medicine, the Guangzhou Regional Clinical Laboratory Quality Control Center, a national bacterial drug resistance surveillance unit, a national sentinel hospital for diarrheal pathogen surveillance under the China CDC, and a training base for microbiological testing for primary healthcare institutions in the province. Additionally, it functions as a teaching and postgraduate training site for laboratory diagnostics for universities including Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou Medical University, and Guangdong Medical University.
The laboratory covers an area of approximately 1,500 square meters, distributed across the main hospital campus and the southern campus. It comprises five subspecialties: Clinical Biochemistry, Clinical Hematology & Body Fluids, Clinical Immunology, Clinical Microbiology, and Clinical Molecular Biology, conducting clinical testing, teaching, and basic research. The laboratory is equipped with a total of 1,088 instruments and facilities, valued at approximately 82.041 million RMB. These include Beckman Coulter AU series fully automated biochemical analyzers, Sysmex fully automated hematology analysis lines, COBAS series electrochemical luminescence immunoanalyzers, Johnson & Johnson dry chemistry fully automated biochemical analyzers, Beckman flow cytometry systems, bioMérieux automated microbial identification systems, ABI real-time PCR instruments, Illumina high-throughput sequencers, automated chromosome scanning systems, and fully automated ELISA analyzers, among others. This equipment meets the demands of clinical testing in hematology, body fluids, biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, and molecular diagnostics, while also supporting certain research needs. The laboratory offers over 500 test items, including liver function, kidney function, cardiac function, electrolytes, blood glucose, lipids, infection markers, anemia testing, blood gas analysis, protein electrophoresis, urine biochemistry, tumor markers, specific proteins, sex hormones, routine blood and urine tests, and routine coagulation tests, etc. It also provides advanced domestic and international testing services for clinical use, such as Lp-PLA2 testing, MTHFR genotyping, APOE genotyping, ALDH2 genotyping, nucleic acid detection of respiratory pathogens, flow cytometry diagnosis for hematological diseases, and immune function monitoring for patients with tumors and autoimmune diseases, all of which have received consistent praise from clinical departments.
The laboratory currently employs 87 personnel, including 12 with senior professional titles, 32 with intermediate titles, and 27 holding master's degrees or higher. It is a highly educated and skilled service team with a sound organizational structure and an increasingly rational talent composition. Adhering to the quality policy of "Accuracy, Efficiency, and Enthusiasm," the laboratory standardizes its quality management according to international standards, implements effective quality control across all factors influencing test results, and ensures accurate, reliable, and timely outcomes. It continuously strengthens communication and collaboration with clinical departments and enthusiastically provides consultation services for healthcare professionals and patients.

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Featured Medical Technology

The Clinical Laboratory possesses extensive experience in microscopic examination of blood and body fluids, excelling in the detection of rare pathogens such as Plasmodium, Corynebacterium diphtheriae, and Paragonimus. It provides timely and accurate diagnostic evidence for clinical practice. In addition to routine coagulation tests, the laboratory offers new assays including coagulation factors, ATIII, FDP, PLG, lupus anticoagulant, protein C and protein S, as well as the thrombosis panel and low-molecular-weight heparin concentration monitoring. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it pioneered rapid screening for COVID-19 antibodies.
The Flow Cytometry Laboratory specializes in immunocytological testing for hematological diseases, auxiliary disease diagnosis, and monitoring of cellular immune function for tumors and autoimmune diseases. It provides crucial laboratory evidence, particularly in the diagnosis of hematologic disorders, monitoring of minimal residual disease (MRD), and immune monitoring for graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) post-transplantation.
The Clinical Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory has introduced advanced technologies within the province, such as RNA isothermal amplification for Ureaplasma urealyticum/Chlamydia trachomatis, and novel tests guiding personalized medicine, including CYP2C19 gene polymorphism detection, CYP2C9 and VKORC1 gene polymorphism detection, MTHFR gene testing, and APOE gene testing. During the pandemic, it was among the first in the province to implement "nucleic acid testing for the novel coronavirus."
The Microbiology Laboratory handles detection for infectious diseases across the hospital and is adept at identifying complex, rare bacteria. It has established a multiplex PCR method for detecting β-lactamase resistance genes. The laboratory has conducted a series of studies on MRSA, a "superbug" that has long challenged clinical practice, completing investigations into the molecular characteristics, virulence factors, and drug resistance genes of MRSA in the local region. Research on biofilms and host immune mechanisms has also been carried out for specific conditions such as diabetic foot and bloodstream infections.

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Scientific Research Results

In recent years, based on its clinical strengths, the Clinical Laboratory has gradually developed two major research directions: "Research on Tumor Biomarkers" and "Research on Microbial Pathogenicity and Drug Resistance." By integrating clinical and basic research, the laboratory focuses on early tumor diagnosis, mechanisms of multidrug-resistant bacteria, and clinical mechanisms of severe infections. Over the past five years, it has undertaken 11 provincial and ministerial-level research projects (including 5 national-level projects), such as those funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Ministry of Science and Technology, and has obtained 2 patents. In the last three years, the laboratory has published 34 academic papers in domestic and international journals (23 SCI-indexed and 11 in core statistical source journals) and authored 2 academic books. It has validated over 40 in vitro diagnostic reagents and conducted or participated in more than 80 clinical application studies of new technologies.
The Clinical Laboratory is responsible for teaching at multiple levels, including interns, visiting trainees, postgraduate students, undergraduate students, and residents in standardized training. The department collaborates with several medical colleges and universities across the country to train medical undergraduate interns, including Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangdong Medical University, Guangzhou Health Vocational College, and Lingnan Polytechnic. Additionally, it consistently provides continuing education for laboratory personnel from primary and secondary hospitals nationwide and has trained numerous visiting trainees. The department serves as a standardized residency training base for laboratory medicine, currently training 5 resident physicians. It also has 2 master's supervisors who have guided and cultivated several postgraduate students in recent years. Currently, the laboratory employs 16 specialized teaching staff who are responsible for undergraduate teaching in medical laboratory science at Sun Yat-sen University. The teaching team has consistently won awards in teaching competitions at the national, university, and hospital levels, making it a highlight of education not only within the laboratory but also across the entire hospital.

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