Metrics-Driven Environmental Stewardship in Flow Cytometry

THE SPEAKER

Fabienne Lucas, MD, PhD - Assistant Professor, University of Washington

Fabienne Lucas is a hematopathologist and laboratory medicine researcher at the University of Washington, Seattle, where she serves as Assistant Professor in Hematopathology and Co-Director of the Clinical Flow Cytometry Laboratory. She helps lead a high-volume academic reference laboratory that processes 20,000–30,000 samples annually, including extensive measurable residual disease (MRD) testing. Dr. Lucas completed pathology and hematopathology training at Mass General Brigham, earned a PhD in hematology and immunology from Barts Cancer Institute in London, and previously trained in hematology/oncology in Germany. She is a former recipient of the ISAC Marylou Ingram Scholarship and currently serves in leadership roles within the International Clinical Cytometry Society (ICCS) and the College of American Pathologists (CAP). Her work focuses on flow cytometry, laboratory operations, diagnostic stewardship, and emerging technologies in pathology and laboratory medicine. Her current research includes one of the first efforts to systematically benchmark emissions, energy use, transportation, consumables, and waste generation in a large clinical flow cytometry laboratory. Through this work, she explores how sustainability can support laboratory quality, workflow efficiency, operational resilience, and responsible resource utilization.

WEBINAR SUMMARY
Flow cytometry laboratories are resource-intensive environments, yet their environmental footprint is rarely measured. This webinar explores practical, metrics-driven approaches to sustainability using ongoing research from a large U.S. academic clinical flow cytometry laboratory as a real-world example. Topics will include energy consumption, specimen transport, packaging waste, consumables, data infrastructure, and workflow optimization, along with strategies that can support both environmental stewardship and operational efficiency. Although grounded in clinical laboratory practice, the session is designed for research laboratories, shared resource laboratories (SRLs), and core facilities seeking practical and adaptable approaches to sustainability. Participants will gain actionable ideas for evaluating their own workflows, identifying measurable opportunities for improvement, and building greener laboratory practices without compromising scientific or clinical quality.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to: 
- Identify major sources of environmental impact in flow cytometry and laboratory operations, including equipment energy use, specimen transport, consumables, packaging, refrigeration, and data-intensive workflows 
- Describe practical approaches for measuring laboratory sustainability metrics such as carbon emissions, waste generation, resource utilization, and workflow-related environmental costs 
- Recognize opportunities to improve operational efficiency and reduce environmental impact through workflow optimization, packaging and shipping changes, equipment practices, and reduction of unnecessary resource use 
- Compare sustainability considerations across clinical, research, and shared resource laboratory settings, including the differing operational constraints and regulatory requirements that shape implementation strategies 
- Discuss how emerging technologies such as spectral flow cytometry and panel consolidation may reduce reagent consumption, specimen requirements, and workflow redundancy while supporting high-quality laboratory operations

Who Should Attend:
Clinical Cytometrists, Educators/Trainers, Industry Scientists (vendor-agnostic; tool developers, method innovators), Outreach Groups, Research Scientists, Shared Resource Laboratory (SRL) Managers, Shared Resource Laboratory (SRL) Staff, Trainees (Graduate students, postdocs, early-career researchers)

Keywords: laboratory sustainability, flow cytometry, environmental stewardship, laboratory operations and workflow optimization, metrics-driven resource utilization

CMLE Credit: 1.0