OLYMPUS TECHNOZONE Vol.67 2006-11
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INDEX
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The initial response to the prototype was indecisive. Then a word from the Director transformed the situation.
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I have heard that the progress made by Olympus with its automatic testing systems was possible because of the close cooperation, including joint research, that existed between Olympus and the Hokkaido Center. What initially prompted the formation of this relationship?
In 1982 we developed the first PK7000. We made 10 systems for evaluation and testing, and one of those was given to the Hokkaido Center. That was the beginning.
How did the Hokkaido Center staff react to the PK7000?
I think you can gauge the reaction from the fact that when I joined the testing team in 1983, the PK7000 was gathering dust in a corner of the laboratory. At the time, all testing, including blood group typing, was performed manually, and there were many highly trained testing technicians. They were all confident in their technical skills, and really they didn't know what to make of the automatic testing system when they saw it for the first time. Moreover, the PK7000 employed a static method based on the formation of agglutination patterns on microplates. Because this method differed from the traditional technique based on agglutination in test tubes, some of the medical technologist appear to have concluded that the sensitivity of the machine was poor. However, human beings tend to make mistakes, and in some cases the same tests performed by different people would yield different data. I thought that by using the analyzer we would be able to obtain consistent data.
The assessment was indecisive. No-one said that the machine was usable, but no-one said that it was unusable either. We experienced similar reactions at other centers, and the development team began to wonder how to proceed.
It was around this time that the previous director, Sadayoshi Sekiguchi, joined the Hokkaido Center from the Asahikawa Medical College. He became director in 1984 and passed away in 1999. The first order he gave to me was to find a way to use the PK7000. I remember that when he asked me what I thought of the machine, I said that it was "interesting."
I wonder what would have happened if Dr. Sekiguchi hadn't intervened. We subsequently started to study the potential for automation under the leadership of Vice Director Kato.
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