Laboratory Medicine

Since the 20th century, with the rapid development of disciplines such as molecular biology, immunology, genetic engineering, modern materials science, and modern chemistry, modern medicine, founded on experimental medicine, has achieved tremendous growth. As a bridge and platform connecting basic medicine with clinical medicine (including clinical Chinese medicine), experimental medicine (laboratory medicine) plays an important role in whole-health management—particularly in disease prevention and early warning, high-risk screening, diagnosis and differential diagnosis, treatment decision-making, disease-course monitoring, and prognosis assessment—by providing objective, accurate, stable, reliable, and diverse scientific evidence-based data. Experimental medicine is also currently a key means and platform for practicing precision medicine and translational medicine.

Experimental medicine is compatible with both Western and Chinese medicine. China’s traditional medicine (Chinese medicine), having undergone thousands of years of development and refinement, plays an irreplaceably important role in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of many acute and chronic diseases. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the unique role of Chinese medicine made more of the world aware of its appeal! Giving equal emphasis to Chinese and Western medicine is a unique strength of the development of Chinese medicine. To further promote the standardized and scientific development of Chinese medicine and enable it to gain increasing recognition from mainstream medicine in the international community, we still need more scientific research and evidence-based data. The modernization of Chinese medicine and pharmacology cannot be separated from the support of advanced experimental medicine. Therefore, the development of integrated Chinese and Western medicine clinical practice currently needs the support of experimental medicine more than ever!

The “Experimental and Laboratory Medicine Center of Yueyang Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine” was established in July 2019. The establishment of the Experimental and Laboratory Medicine Center can be described as far-sighted and precautionary, while its development has followed the trend and arisen in response to actual needs! It responds to Shanghai’s positioning for the development of research-oriented hospitals and to the future industry–academia–research–medicine development needs driven by innovation in clinical research, achievement translation, and clinical application.

The “Experimental and Laboratory Medicine Center of Yueyang Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine” integrates medical care, scientific research, and education. The center has six public service platforms: basic clinical testing, gene and molecular testing, mass spectrometry analysis, tissue and cell services, protein analysis, a platform, and a biobank. As a supporting platform of one of the hospital’s seven major centers, the Clinical Laboratory Experimental Medicine Center has borne an important mission since its establishment. It is both a public, open service platform for scientific research throughout the hospital, providing important support for the implementation and enhancement of clinical research, and an implementation department through which advanced testing technologies, including molecular testing, are put into practice and serve clinical care.

The Basic Clinical Testing Platform is based on the clinical laboratory sub-specialties of the hospital’s former Department of Medical Laboratory Medicine, including clinical testing and hematology, clinical biochemistry, clinical immunology, and clinical microbiology. The rebuilt Department of Medical Laboratory Medicine completed its renovation at the end of July 2020 and issued and implemented the ISO15189 quality management system. This system successfully passed the experts’ on-site assessment from September 17 to 19, 2021! In December 2021, the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment issued the laboratory accreditation certificate, which formally took effect on December 10, 2021. Based on a standardized and complete quality management system, the clinical testing platform—with optimized processes, excellent equipment, a wide range of services, and continuous improvement and enhancement—will provide more efficient and higher-quality testing services for clinical care and scientific research.

“Collaborative innovation and win-win cooperation” is the mission of the Experimental and Laboratory Medicine Center. In the future, the center will further integrate scientific research talent and the resource advantages of Yueyang Chinese medicine and integrated Chinese and Western medicine clinical practice, recruit talent broadly, unite and cooperate, and promote integration and interdisciplinary collaboration. It will pay particular attention to interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary cooperation with clinical disciplines, life sciences, chemistry, materials science, artificial intelligence (AI), and computer science, while emphasizing the integration of industry, academia, research, and application. Based at the hospital and Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the center will take the lead in creating an experimental–laboratory medicine integration focused on clinical services and characterized by advanced molecular testing. It will extend from the hospital/university to Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta region, gradually building a leading modern experimental and laboratory medicine center in Shanghai and a well-known one nationally. Through continuous platform development, it will promote the sound development of its own discipline and of integrated Chinese and Western medicine clinical disciplines, advance the clinical translation and standardized implementation and application of advanced experimental medicine technologies, actively practice precision and translational medicine in clinical care, and contribute to the scientific and evidence-based development of Chinese medicine and integrated Chinese and Western medicine clinical practice.