Metabolic Lab

This past week I have had the privilege of working with the Metabolic Team in the lab. In the metabolic lab, they work with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to detect if a person has been drinking alcohol to the excess. After a person has been caught for drunk driving, they get their license taken away for about a year and aren't able to get it back unless they pass a lab test saying they haven't had an excessive amount of alcohol in the past week or so. The DVLA sends blood samples to the Metabolic Lab at King's to have these tests done. Once the samples reach King's we do a Carbohydrate Deficient Transferrin (CDT) test to detect any heavy alcohol consumption. To do the CDT test we had to put the samples into a centrifuge to separate the contents of the blood in the test tubes. Once the blood was separated into three parts, we poured some of the plasma into a smaller tube before putting the sample in the Sebia Capillary 2. The Sebia Capillary 2 would analyze the blood and give us a graph and a CDT value which we would then send back to the DVLA. While carrying out these tests, I learned how to change out solutions and interpret the results that the Sebia Capillary 2 was putting out. I really enjoyed working in the Metabolic Lab, the people there were very friendly and always cracking jokes and having a good time, it was a good change of pace from Toxicology.

Making solutions for the Sebia Capillary 2