Nirav Patel, head of demand and delivery for the NHS FDP, has said the platform is “here to stay” but the current contract will be reviewed.
NHS England recruiting for CDIO of online hospital trust
NHS England is recruiting for a chief digital information officer (CDIO) for its new online hospital trust.
Essex Partnership digital tool improves leg wound and ulcer care
Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust has introduced a digital tool to improve care for patients with leg ulcers and wounds.
West Midlands NHS imaging programme enters procurement
An NHS imaging transformation programme serving 6.6 million people across the West Midlands has entered procurement.
Case Report: Reintroduction of winged infusion sets to needle syringe programs – advancing equity in harm reduction
BackgroundIn January 2023, following a 20-year ban, the New South Wales (NSW) Needle and Syringe Program (NSP) Guidelines permitted NSPs to provide winged infusion sets (‘butterflies’) and larger-volume syringes (‘barrels’) commonly used for injecting methadone liquid intravenously.ApproachThe Kirketon Road Centre (KRC) integrated the distribution of ‘butterflies and barrels’ (referred to as ‘butterfly packs’) into its service delivery in April 2023 and developed resources in collaboration with the Uniting Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) and the NSW Users and AIDS Association (NUAA). This case report presents an audit of service delivery and self-reported client outcomes following the introduction of ‘butterfly packs’.OutcomesSince April 2023, KRC has been consistently supplying ‘barrels’ and ‘butterflies’ to clients who inject methadone. The proportion of NSP visits by clients who reported methadone as the last drug injected increased significantly after the program’s introduction (from 2.2 to 4.0 methadone-related attendances per month), and so did the amount of corresponding injecting equipment and verbal education sessions. Among 18 survey respondents, the majority reported improved health or safety since accessing butterfly packs (89%).ConclusionEquipment for intravenous methadone administration can be safely and efficiently distributed by NSP programs. Access to harm reduction services should be based on vulnerability and need, with services tailored accordingly. The policy reversal allowing ‘butterflies and barrels’ and service innovations such as KRC’s program have addressed a longstanding gap, advancing equity in harm reduction for people who inject methadone in NSW.
STAT+: As the U.S. looks on, European countries feel growing pressure on drug prices
LONDON — In Europe, two divergent paths are emerging as countries grapple with what to do about drug prices, affecting pharma companies and patients across the continent — and testing the influence of the U.S.
In the U.K., after a pressure campaign from both pharma companies and the Trump administration, the government has adopted more industry-friendly policies while also simply promising to spend more on medicines.
Germany, another of the continent’s biggest markets, is headed in the opposite direction. Facing growing deficits in its health budget, the government has proposed moves that would cut spending and increase the fees the industry has to pay.
MFT to launch data platform to support research and patient care
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) is launching a data platform to support research and improve care for patients.
T-Cell Synapse Formation Is Restrained by PTPN22–PSTPIP1 Signaling
T cells don’t simply switch on—they reshape themselves. When these immune sentinels recognize a target, they rapidly reorganize their internal scaffolding to build an immunological synapse, a nanoscale interface that determines how strongly they respond. But that architectural overhaul needs brakes. Without them, T cells risk becoming hypersensitive, reacting to weak cues, and drifting toward autoimmunity. Now, new work reveals that one of those brakes—PTPN22 (proline-serine-threonine phosphatase–interacting protein 1)—acts not only on signaling molecules but also on the cytoskeletal machinery that sculpts the synapse itself.
In a study published in Science Signaling, lead author Megan Joseph, PhD, of University College London and colleagues uncover how PTPN22 interacts with the cytoskeletal adaptor protein PSTPIP1 to restrain actin remodeling at the T‑cell synapse. Their paper, “PTPN22 regulates T-cell synapse formation through PSTPIP1-dependent actin remodeling,” shows that this phosphatase plays a previously unappreciated role at the plasma membrane, shaping how T cells respond to antigens of varying affinity. As the authors wrote, “These findings uncover a PTPN22–PSTPIP1 signaling axis that is critical for regulating cytoskeletal remodeling and receptor organization, providing insights into T-cell hyperactivation that may be relevant to autoimmune disease.”
PTPN22 is already well known as a negative regulator of early T‑cell activation. Variants in the gene, including the autoimmune‑associated R620W allele, have been linked to diseases ranging from lupus to rheumatoid arthritis. Using super‑resolution DNA‑PAINT imaging, Joseph et al. visualized how T cells reorganize their actin networks as they engage activating ligands. In wild‑type Jurkat cells, PTPN22 helped maintain orderly actin dynamics. In its absence, however, PSTPIP1 accumulated at T cell receptors (TCRs), disrupting Arp2/3‑dependent actin polymerization and generating dense central F‑actin foci, as well as enhanced Ca2+ signaling, especially under low-affinity stimulation of the TCR, according to the paper.
This hyper‑remodeling had functional consequences. PTPN22‑deficient cells became unusually sensitive to low‑affinity antigens, responding more vigorously than their wild‑type counterparts. “Autoimmunity is inherently linked to immune tolerance mechanisms normally associated with low-affinity TCR responses to self, which, when breeched lead to inappropriate immune reactions. To better understand how PTPN22 contributes to these processes, we used WT and PTPN22 KO TCR−/− Jurkat cells engineered to express a transgenic TCR with high affinity for the pTax peptide and low affinity for the pHuD peptide,” the authors wrote.
Joseph and colleagues suggest that understanding this axis could inform both autoimmune research and efforts to modulate T‑cell activation in cancer immunotherapy. By mapping how PTPN22 and PSTPIP1 coordinate actin remodeling, the study provides a mechanistic foothold for exploring how synapse architecture shapes immune outcomes.
The post T-Cell Synapse Formation Is Restrained by PTPN22–PSTPIP1 Signaling appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.
Digital Pathology and the NHS: Overcoming Barriers to a More Connected Future
As demand on National Health Service (NHS) U.K. pathology services continues to rise, the shift toward digital pathology has never been more critical. While the NHS 10 Year Plan identifies it as one of the system’s most transformative enablers, digital pathology adoption remains uneven. Damian Doherty, Editor in Chief of Inside Precision Medicine, sat down with Olga Colgan, PhD, strategic marketing director at Leica Biosystems, and Darren Treanor, MB BCh, PhD, consultant histopathologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, to explore the pressures facing today’s pathology departments, the transformative potential of digital workflows, and how collaborative partnerships are helping accelerate progress and unlock the full value of digital diagnostics.
Q: The NHS 10 Year Health Plan identifies digital pathology as one of three fundamental shifts, yet adoption remains limited. What are the key barriers?
Olga Colgan: Many pathology departments today are already stretched thin by managing growing workloads, which can make it difficult to pause and do a thorough workflow examination and consider process improvements. Transitioning to digital pathology requires an investment and openness to change. For decades, pathology has been optimized for glass slide review under a microscope, so moving to digital is not just a technology upgrade, but a cultural shift for laboratory staff and clinicians who value the familiarity and comfort of traditional methods.
Proper capital allocation and investment are critical to unlock the benefits of digital pathology. For example, information technology (IT) infrastructure must be capable of supporting high-resolution imaging, secure storage, and rapid sharing of thousands of slides. Regulatory needs must also be considered, as each lab must validate digital workflows to ensure appropriate compliance.
While these upfront hurdles can seem daunting, they lead to significant long-term gains. Digital workflows enable faster slide sharing, improve access to subspecialists, and ultimately improve turnaround times—delivering real benefits for both laboratory teams and patients eagerly waiting for critical results.
Q: What are the key benefits of digital pathology that make it such a crucial step for modernizing NHS pathology services—particularly in terms of workflow efficiency, diagnostic accuracy, and collaborative decision-making?
Colgan: Digital pathology is the quintessential modernization of a pathology laboratory, driving efficiencies in workflows, accuracy, and collaboration. Centralized digital storage provides instant access to prior cases and supports predictive analytics. Eliminating physical slides from the workflow after scanning reduces breakage risks and concerns, misidentification risks, along with space and storage needs.
Beyond efficiency gains, digital pathology unleashes the power of remote collaboration. The ability to share whole-slide images instantly means pathologists can quickly leverage remote expertise within their network, or obtain second opinions in minutes rather than days, accelerating diagnostic confidence and treatment decisions. It also extends expertise beyond geographic boundaries, removing the “postcode-lottery” and providing a basis for equity in pathology diagnostics. This enables rural or underserved regions to access pathologists without the delays, costs, and concerns of physical slide transport. This connectivity transforms pathology into a truly networked resource, ensuring that expertise is available whenever and wherever it’s needed, even after hours.
Further, although in the early stages of routine usage, artificial intelligence (AI) models can add another layer of support by bringing greater quantification and reproducibility to slide analysis, highlighting subtle patterns or abnormalities that may be difficult to identify by eye. Effectively, AI can act as a second set of eyes to further build diagnostic confidence and augment—rather than replace—pathologist review.
Q: How are companies like Leica Biosystems supporting NHS trusts in overcoming digital pathology adoption challenges?
Colgan: It starts with listening. We understand that every laboratory and every pathology department has unique workflows, bottlenecks, and priorities, so our first step is a conversation and analysis to identify those needs and design a tailored roadmap for transformation. This isn’t just about technology; it’s about creating solutions that make the pathology workloads more sustainable, especially at a time when the profession faces significant workforce shortages.
Leica Biosystems partners with labs to deliver systems that meet their demands today, while anticipating future growth and scalability. A great example is Leeds Teaching Hospital and the National Pathology Imaging Co-operative. Combined, they make up the largest national integrated digital pathology network in Europe for routine diagnostics—a milestone that demonstrates what’s possible when technology and collaboration come together. The Leeds Guide to Digital Pathology, volume one and volume two, is packed with practical tips and pragmatic approaches to support successful digital pathology adoption.
Q: What influenced Leeds Teaching Hospital to adopt digital pathology, and what transformation have you experienced?
Darren Treanor: We’ve been involved with digital pathology since the very early days of the technology, and it has become the essential foundation of our teaching and research work at the University of Leeds. We had taken a cautious approach to clinical adoption until we were convinced that the technology was ready—both in terms of clinical safety and technical readiness—and we could ensure that it worked and was safe.
We decided that the threshold for adoption for clinical use was reached in 2015, when we established that the clinical safety was acceptable and that the scanners and viewing software were fit for purpose and would not slow us down. Working in partnership with Leica Biosystems, we adopted a phased approach to 100% digital scanning, starting with a “meaningful pilot” with our four breast pathology colleagues. This group was the most pro-digital in the department and, being located in a separate building, had experienced frustrating delays in the delivery of glass slides between the main lab and their offices. They actively pursued us to “go digital.” The pilot with them was critical for us in planning the laboratory and clinical workflow reconfigurations needed to go digital and, importantly, developing a verification and validation process that allowed us to transition from glass to digital slides while maintaining safety. This process became the foundation of the U.K. Royal College of Pathologists guidelines for digital pathology, which have been adopted in many other countries as well.
We then looked toward the further summit of “100% digital” and took a phased approach, starting with immunohistochemistry (IHC). As a separate part of the lab, this activity could be separately digitized. With digital review of IHC being a lower-risk activity clinically, it allowed us to introduce the rest of our over 40 pathology consultants to the idea of diagnosis on a digital image. Once that was completed, we moved in one final big step to 100% digital scanning, reaching that milestone on a summer’s day in 2018.
Q: What lessons can other NHS trusts learn from your digital transformation journey, and what should be considered as they examine their current workflows?
Treanor: Because of our academic background and partnership with Leica Biosystems, we were very keen to share our experiences of going digital and how to do it. Too many deployments would talk of the great success in using whole-slide imaging, but gloss over the challenges and effort involved in getting there.
We wrote the Leeds guides to provide really simple general-purpose assistance to other labs that are new to digital pathology and didn’t have the benefit of in-house expertise yet.
Looking back, being early adopters, we had the unique challenge of being one of the first centers to go fully digital and pave the way at a time when scanners, displays, and software were just good enough, and the combined global experience of digital pathology was low. We have run many workshops to share our experiences, and it has been interesting to see how the field has evolved in recent times and how much easier it is now to go digital. There are far fewer “unknowns” when going digital now, and modern scanners and workflows are significantly better. For example, our current setup has a very smooth transition from H&E [hematoxylin and eosin] stainer to scanner, which saves a lot of time in the lab and removes a major obstacle to lab operation that we had to work around in the early years. In our early workshops, a deployment was often a multi-year project with a lot of uncertainty and need for a lot of preparatory work; nowadays, labs are much more digital-ready, the timelines are much shorter, and success rates are much higher!
The post Digital Pathology and the NHS: Overcoming Barriers to a More Connected Future appeared first on Inside Precision Medicine.
Royal Cornwall Hospitals delays Oracle EPR go-live
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust has delayed its Oracle EPR go-live to ensure it will “support safe patient care and service continuity”.