Description

MSACL
12^th Annual Conference & Exhibits

Monterey Conference Center

Monterey, CA

April 5 - 8, 2022

COVID Statement: A lot can change between now and April, but we are currently planning to: (1) require all attendees to be vaccinated, (2) require all attendees to be tested prior to arrival, and (3) request that attendees respectfully follow any listed rules and/or requirements for conference center and hotel venues, as well as establishments throughout the city.

Mission

MSACL's mission is to support the community in overcoming the challenges of implementing high value tests in the clinical lab.

Meeting Focus

MSACL is focused on providing a forum of interaction for participants in all stages of the development, advancement and use of analytical tools, including data analytics, in the clinic to improve patient care. Although the group primarily focuses on mass spectrometry, presentations and discussion on other platforms are welcome.

Location Overview

The Monterey Conference Center (MCC) is flanked by two hotels, the Marriott, and the Portola. Each has meeting space and their own restaurant. The food is of reasonably high quality since Monterey is located in the heart of an agricultural region. Local sourcing is a priority. Portola also has a brewpub (Peter B’s).

We will be using the Monterey Conference Center’s Serra Ballroom as the MSACL Exhibit Hall (19,150 square feet). There will be space for at least 40 booths interspersed with up to 176 posters.

We typically have 800-900 attendees in a NORMAL year. This is our first time planning for an in-person since the pandemic resulted in the cancellation of our 2020 event. Given the uncertainty, we are planning to welcome ~ 500 attendees for 2022, although we will have the capacity to welcome at least 1000, and possibly more if needed.

Educational Grants

MSACL invests heavily in education via the MSACL Educational Grants, which support conference attendance:

1. Young Investigator Grants: Young investigators, in the first four years of their academic position, who submit an abstract which is accepted for presentation (poster/podium) at the annual conference. Applicants must submit a short application.
2. Lab Director Grants: Lab Directors interested in learning more about what mass spectrometry is and how it could potentially improve results and reduce costs in their clinical laboratory are not required to submit an abstract, but must submit a short application.
3. Trainee Grants: Lab Directors-to-be interested in learning more about what mass spectrometry is and how it could potentially improve results and reduce costs in their clinical laboratory are not required to submit an abstract, but must submit a short application.

Scientific Program

In the past we have had specific tracks for each -omic topic area. For 2022, we are planning to focus on plenary sessions with panel discussions that bring the community together, in addition to parallel sessions on focused topics.

A list of the topics being solicited for the current conference is below.

Abstract Submission Categories for MSACL

Target Audience

The target audience for this program includes pathologists, clinical laboratory directors and scientists, mass spectrometry and automated sample processing providers as well as laboratory diagnostic providers. This program will be beneficial to healthcare administrators, laboratory quality control and standards scientists, as well as those responsible for implementation of clinical analyses for emergency response due to terrorism or accident.

Needs Assessment

With the advancement of technologies for clinical analysis, there exists a gap between those who understand the technology and those who do not. Without continual education, this gap will grow and these advancements are unlikely to be effectively incorporated into the clinical analysis workflow, resulting in lost opportunities to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.

MSACL provides an environment through which participants will be able to identify opportunities to develop the capacity to provide higher quality results, more rapidly and for lower overall cost, for patients within the healthcare system.