October 21, 2026
BBC Future: The Genetic Technique That Finds (Almost) Every Infection
Transcript
Elizabeth McMahon
Coming up, updated testing recommendations for patients with HER2 positive gastroesophageal cancer. Plus, he's a podcasting pathologist who's also a new face on the Board of Governors. We talked to Dr. Aaron Auerbach about his plans. Welcome to CAP News for Wednesday, October 21st. I'm Elizabeth McMahon of the College of American Pathologists. Here's what's making news in pathology and laboratory medicine. The CAP today is expected to release an updated testing guideline for advanced gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma or GEA. An expert panel from the CAP and the American Society for Clinical Pathology now recommends repeat HER2 testing for GEA patients who are HER2 positive and being assessed for targeted therapy, which has proven quite effective. HER2, or HUMAN Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor II, is a protein that promotes the growth of cancer cells. The guideline also calls for testing the highest quality tumor specimen at a patient's initial diagnosis and reinforces the preferred standard method for assessing HER2 status. After a year of filling a vacancy, Dr. Aaron Auerbach is stepping into his first full term on the CAP Board of Governors. A familiar face and voice at the CAP for more than two decades, Dr. Auerbach says he's focused on several key issues.
Dr. Aaron Auerbach
And we advocacy is so important to us. For me personally, um, you know, uh I have lots of concerns about scope of practice because you see scope of practice in other fields, people wanting to do the same work that physicians do. But I'm also really interested about looking at some of the surgical pathology payment codes right now.
Elizabeth McMahon
Dr. Auerbach was previously chair of the Surgical Pathology Committee and held roles in the Council on Scientific Affairs and the House of Delegates. He also hosts a regular leadership podcast on Cap on Demand, a passion of his outside the office. Dr. Auerbach says he feels like he grew up at the CAP.
Dr. Aaron Auerbach
I went to my first meeting at the Residents Forum and I met uh Gene Herbek, who so encouraged me, even though I was a young pathologist, to get involved and learn about different things about our field. And it was just really fascinating because I moved from going to work and thinking about a single case, how to diagnose a single case, to then going to these CAP meetings where I was thinking about the field overall and got very excited about uh different things on the science end of things and on the ad advocacy end of things, that the CAP uh encompassed such a large footprint over pathology.
Elizabeth McMahon
In his day job, Dr. Auerbach serves as director of research, repository, and education at the Joint Pathology Center in Maryland, where he oversees the digitization of millions of pathology slides. Looking ahead, he says he's eager to contribute his expertise as innovations and discoveries move pathology forward.
Dr. Aaron Auerbach
In 10 years, I foresee pathologists are going to be using AI routinely in their practice. And if you don't use it, if you don't use digital pathology, you could be left behind. What we want to avoid is basically ticking off all the boxes of all the possible types of lab tests that could present in a patient with slightly abnormal bleeding factors and or a suspected bleeding history. So there's lots of things that the board needs to work on so that pathology practices will get involved with this.
Elizabeth McMahon
Hospitals are increasingly turning to metagenomic testing to quickly identify unexplained serious illnesses. Metagenomic tests extract genetic material from samples and use advanced sequencing to identify the genetic codes of everything in the sample. The technology is now helping to inform fast decision making when patients arrive with symptoms that could indicate a deadly condition, such as meningitis or encephalitis, according to a recent article in BBC Future. Rather than performing time-consuming tests for infections or autoimmune conditions, metagenomics paired with AI can get patients the right treatment in just hours. While metagenomics have already shown much promise, including identifying COVID-19 in December 1999, the technique is not yet routine and is largely applied in specialized infectious disease and intensive care units. And finally, Consumer Reports is well known for walking you through the best home electronics or cars, but what about home blood tests? A new article provides a primer on the lab work you need from a doctor and the tests you can do at home. Dr. Sheldon Campbell of the CAP's Point of Care Testing Committee recommends home tests that are FDA approved, but he also warns about potential pitfalls, such as jumping to conclusions about your results without consulting a doctor. Dr. Campbell and other experts cover the five most popular types of home tests, including for food allergies, sexually transmitted diseases, hormones, heart health, and whole body test kits. That's all for today. Be sure to check the show notes for more information on today's stories. Got a story you'd like to hear on the podcast? Write to us at stories at org. We're back at 5 AM Eastern for another episode of CAP News. I'm Elizabeth McMahon. Have a great day.