Genetic Disorder Lab for Newborn Screening
Newborn screening is a public health service that identifies infants with genetic disorders, providing early treatment and preventing symptoms from becoming worse. The lab works with genetic disease, particularly rare diseases such as metabolic disease. Using a dried filter paper blood spot, the spectrometry can identify over 30 inherited metabolic disorders in a few minutes. This will allow the pathologist to determine, based on the number of cells and other factors such as organic molecule structure, whether the baby has a potentially life-threatening disease. The correct treatment can then be given to the baby, and save their life or result in harmful effects.