The Laboratory Genetics department (formally the Molecular Diagnostics and Cytogenetics Laboratories), forms part of the West of Scotland Centre for Genomic Medicine and provides a comprehensive diagnostic genetic service for the patients of the West of Scotland (population >2.7 million) and specialised testing for particular disorders to the whole of Scotland, the UK and overseas. The West of Scotland Centre for Genomic Medicine also includes the Clinical Genetics Service, which is co-located.
The laboratory is situated on Level 2 of the Laboratory Medicine Building at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow and encompasses cytogenetics and molecular diagnostic testing for the specialist diagnosis and/ or monitoring of patients with constitutional (prenatal and postnatal) and acquired (malignancy) genetic abnormalities in hereditary genetic disease, solid tumours as well as adult and childhood leukaemia.
The laboratory is a member of the Scottish Genetics Laboratories Consortium and the Scottish Molecular Pathology Consortium, with laboratories also located in Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh. The laboratories in each of these four centres are funded by National Services Division of NHS Scotland and are commissioned to work together to provide a comprehensive genetics service to the patients of Scotland. In addition, the laboratory will refer samples for specialist genetic tests to other UK accredited laboratories, when appropriate. For further information on the services provided by the laboratory please follow the link to the Laboratory Genetics User Manual (see in the Information section below).
The Laboratory Genetics department is accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to ISO 15189:2012 standards. The scope of services included in this accreditation can be viewed here.
Testing for all germline referrals, including diagnostic samples, familial testing of known genetic abnormalities and send away of tests to referral labs, is now available. During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic we will process and test all referrals, however there may be some impact on reporting turnaround times for routine, non-urgent samples.
Where testing is carried out in external referral laboratories this will be subject to their local availability and we will notify clinicians and store DNA if individual tests are not currently available.
Somatic referrals in relation to testing tumour or blood/bone marrow samples from patients with cancer are considered priority analyses and we will continue to provide our full repertoire of testing for these, however there may be some impact on reporting turnaround times.
For general enquiries please contact Duty Scientist at :- [email protected]
or telephone 0141 354 9300 (internal 59300)
Members of the senior management team can be contacted here
West of Scotland Centre for Genomic Medicine
Laboratory Genetics
Level 2B Laboratory Medicine & FM Building
Queen Elizabeth University Hospital
Glasgow, G51 4TF
Full details of the service provided by the Lab can be found in the Laboratory Users Manual
Full schedule of accredited tests can be found on the UKAS search of accredited organisations
In Laboratory Genetics, we use secure cloud-based analysis tools to help us analyse and interpret DNA sequencing results. Please click here for our Privacy Notice regarding this.
Each request accepted by the laboratory for testing is considered an agreement between the user and laboratory. Please see the Terms and Conditions of Service
Either a completed request form or a detailed letter must be sent with each patient sample. Forms can also be requested by telephoning the department on 0141 354 9330 or downloaded below.
As a minimum, two pieces of patient identifying information must be provided on both the form and the sample container, e.g. name and CHI number.
SPECIMENS MAY BE REJECTED if the form and the sample container do not have the same 2 patient identifiers.
Please note that high value referrals (>£1000) which are referred on to non Scottish Genetics Laboratories are subject to an external approval process through the Scottish Genetics Laboratory Consortium. External users requesting such tests are required to provide additional information by completing the SGLC Test Request form (please see below).
The Laboratory Genetics department is currently experiencing pressures in terms of reporting times for some of its service. We continue to work closely with all users to prioritise urgent referrals where appropriate. If users of the service have any concerns regarding reporting times for patients referred to the laboratory for testing, please contact Nicola Williams, Head of Service, to discuss further ([email protected]).
Clinical Exome Testing Request Form
Clinical Exome gene panels list v2 (Glasgow)
Molecular Haematology-oncology testing
Paediatric ALL MRD Test Request Form
Glasgow Epilepsy Service Proforma (instructions for configuring NHS_net)
Disorders of Sexual Development Proforma
Disorders of Sexual Development NGS gene panel list v1
Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism Referal Form
Hereditary Cancer Panel Testing Proforma
Peripheral Neuropathy Proforma
Haemato-oncology send away tests - all referrals for specialist testing must be sent via Laboratory Genetics for processing and forwarding to appropriate test centre
Chromosome Breakage Syndromes (Guys)
BCR-ABL trial only (Hammersmith)
Forms can also be requested by contacting the laboratory.
Either a completed request form or a detailed letter must be sent with each patient sample, and each sample must be clearly labelled with at least 2 patient identifiers
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