Jae Lee, former CEO of the now-defunct Northwest Physicians Laboratory in Bellevue, Wash., agreed to pay $1.1 million to resolve a civil case involving the lab allegedly offering referrals in exchange for cash payments, an arrangement commonly known as a kickback, according to a Justice Department news release.

A University of Illinois Chicago lab has been tracking COVID-19 in the city's wastewater and sharing the results with local public health agencies, according to WTTW.

Amazon Web Services, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and several other pharmacy and biotech leaders partnered to launch AION Labs, an innovative drug research project, AION Labs said Oct. 13.

Blacksburg-based Virginia Tech opened a 139,000-square-foot expansion in Roanoke that will house new lab facilities, the university said Oct. 12.

Secaucus, N.J.-based Quest Diagnostics opened its 250,000-square-foot lab in Clifton, N.J., the company said Oct. 12.

Psychiatrist Varanise Booker, MD, pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud in a kickback scheme for referring Medicare and Medicaid patients to the now-closed Universal Oral Fluid Labs in Greensburg, Pa., according to a Justice Department statement.

The Cleveland Clinic opened a two-story cryogenic biobank, the company said Oct. 7, in partnership with Chelmsford, Mass.-based Brooks Automation's life sciences division, now known as Azenta Life Sciences.

Phoenix-based genetic sequencing company Tesis Labs raised $20 million of growth equity financing, the company said Oct. 5. The funding round was led by an investment group headed by John Shufeldt, MD.

Two research teams have developed noninvasive tests that use blood or saliva samples to diagnose cases of colorectal cancer and prostate cancer.

The global direct-to-consumer lab test market is predicted to see 26 percent compound annual growth through 2031, according to a report by Albany, N.Y.-based Transparency Market Research. The growth will likely far outpace that of the overall clinical lab test market's, forecast at a 7.3 percent rate through 2028.

Welsh point-of-care testing company EKF Diagnostics is acquiring San Antonio-based Advanced Diagnostics Laboratory for $10 million in shares and additional performance-based payments of up to $60 million, the company said Sept. 29.

A new rapid test identifies severe COVID-19 patients more accurately than existing tests, researchers said Sept. 29 at the 2021 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting and Clinical Lab Expo in Atlanta.

Rockville, Md.-based lab testing company 20/20 GeneSystems has launched a shared lab to help diagnostic test makers cut the time and cost of launching their tests in the U.S., the company said Sept. 28.

Healthy patients undergoing lab testing before surgery is one of the most common forms of unnecessary, low-value care, according to a study published Sept. 27 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Canadian medical lab firm Empower Clinics, parent company of Dallas-based Kai Medical Lab, is partnering with Canadian cybersecurity company SoLVBL Solutions to provide data security to the diagnostic testing programs Empower uses, the company said Sept. 27.

Maywood, Ill.-based Loyola Medicine has opened a 30,000-square-foot clinical lab on its main medical center campus, according to commercial real estate outlet REBusiness Online.

The market for lab-developed tests, now worth $4.5 billion globally, is expected to see 7 percent compound annual growth through 2028, according to a new Research and Markets report.

Spanish startup Mecwins is developing in vitro diagnostic testing lab technology that detects concentrations in femtograms per milliliter — 1,000 times more sensitive than widely available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, the company said Sept. 24.

Staff shortages are forcing the University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medical Center to temporarily close 11 labs, the university said Sept. 23.

Two COVID-19 lab test kits made by Abbott Molecular could show false positive results, the FDA said Sept. 20.