Clinical Chemistry
The UCLA Clinical Laboratories at Ronald Reagan Hospital, Santa Monica Hospital, and Bruin University Reference Laboratory (BURL) provide high quality laboratory services to the UCLA Health System by offering a comprehensive range of chemistry testing in serum, plasma, urine, and other body fluids for diagnostic, prognostic, and disease monitoring purposes. We have stat processes to report certain test results in a timely manner in hospital laboratories. We have implemented a rigorous standardization process and quality control programs to ensure the quality of laboratory tests and ensure results comparability between UCLA laboratories. We provide consultative/interpretive reports by faculty for monoclonal gammopathy analyses (protein electrophoresis). We also provide consultations to our clinicians regarding test utilization, result interpretation, and troubleshooting problems related to laboratory tests. We will install automation lines in all three laboratories for sample processing to improve turn-around-time and reduce human errors.
Services
- Routine chemistry tests including basic/comprehensive metabolic panel, hepatic function tests, renal function tests, and other chemistry tests.
- Cardiac markers (troponin and BNP)
- Hormones
- Lipids
- Blood gases
- Immunosuppressants
- Allergy IgE
- Intraoperative PTH
- Urinalysis
- Toxicology and therapeutic drug monitoring
- Tumor markers
- Protein electrophoresis | Consultative service
Education
Clinical Chemistry Residency
Resident training in Clinical Chemistry includes monthly didactic lectures, weekly chemistry conference, and daily sign-off for protein electrophoresis or hemoglobinopathy evaluation. The topics of the didactic lectures will cover the pathophysiology of various diseases or medical conditions, relevant tests used to diagnose or monitoring the disease, technologies and instrumentations, test methodology and interferences, as well as quality control and assurance programs. We have different discussion topics for each week of the rotation, during which, residents meet with faculty to discuss the topic of that week using case-based learning format. Residents present a case related to the topic of that week and explain what and how tests are used to diagnose or monitor disease, as well as the methods and interference of the test. Residents are encourage to take projects related to the improvement of laboratory processes or the evaluation of test performance including reference intervals or the validation of new test or new instrument.
Research
- Clinical research services
Faculty
Lu Song, PhD
Chief, Clinical Chemistry
310-267-8169 | Email
Contact Information
Chemistry & Immunoassay
Hours: Daily, 24 hours
RRUCLA-MC, Room B403
310-267-8159
Toxicology & Therapeutic Drug Monitoring
Hours: 7am-4pm (daily)
CHS, Room AL-206
310-825-9457
Lab Manager
Diana Crary
310-267-8120 | Email
Lab Supervisor
Lavita Boyd (310)267-8189 | Email
Nathan Okawa (310)267-8105
Kavita Aggarwal (310) 267-8124