Axis Healthcare is a family-run care facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that takes a whole-person approach to care, offering services ranging from primary care and pain management to dermatology and behavioral health. The company aims to prescribe more than just medicine, and this includes the provision of holistic treatments to help those struggling with substance abuse. Toxicology testing forms part of the care facility’s addiction service, and scientists work tirelessly within its growing outreach laboratory to support an expanding patient population at multiple clinics in the area. Daniel Bergner, General Supervisor of the laboratory at Axis Healthcare, explained the range of services that it offers: “Our laboratory is multifaceted. In addition to toxicology testing, we perform PCR assays for COVID-19, as well as testing for urinary tract infections and a variety of other conditions. We rely on the VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipettes in our PCR laboratory to maximize our productivity and provide rapid and reliable diagnostics.”

A time of exponential growth

These versatile pipetting solutions have allowed the laboratory to keep up with significant increases in testing in recent years. The company initially invested in INTEGRA products following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the need for point-of-care testing first became prevalent. It has since expanded its range of VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipettes to include multiple sizes and volumes to suit various workflows. Daniel added: “During the pandemic, the demand on our laboratory testing services escalated quickly from as few as 100 specimens to over 1000 specimens per day. We had several sample collection sites, and people would line up in their cars to be tested. We were extremely thankful for INTEGRA’s multichannel pipetting solutions during this time – as they allowed us to quickly increase our capacity and keep up with demand – and they continue to boost our capabilities today.”

Rapid, reliable results

Precision and accuracy are equally as important as throughput in a healthcare setting, to meet the needs of patients and medical professionals alike. Not only does the VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipette allow scientists in the PCR laboratory to rapidly transfer multiple samples between labware of different formats, but it also offers intuitive operation to minimize errors and enable exact pipetting. Daniel commented: “We really enjoy the functionality of the VOYAGER pipettes; electronically adjustable tip spacing means that they are straightforward to use and allow consistent pipetting in every step of our procedures. We can perform complex analyses – such as liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), drug confirmations and PCR – in high volumes, and have absolute confidence in what we are doing because of the performance of the pipettes.”

Ongoing support for addiction recovery

“The VOYAGER pipettes have become an integral part of smooth, precise and accurate testing in our PCR laboratory. We are experiencing explosive growth, especially in the toxicology testing domain, and demands on the laboratory show no signs of stopping. We are confident that the versatile VOYAGER pipettes will continue to support us along this growth trajectory and, in future, we may also introduce the pipettes into our toxicology laboratory. In addition, we know that we can rely on INTEGRA to provide ongoing assistance and further automation as needed in the future, so that we can keep supporting patients in their battle against opioid addiction,” Daniel concluded.