A look to the future of animal clinical biochemistry: Implications for diagnostics and research

The changing environment in the medical biochemistry arena as a result of new and concerted pressures for cost containment will have and is having its inevitable effect on the field of animal clinical biochemistry. The animal clinical biochemist must be acutely aware of the changes engendered by these pressures and be prepared to respond in a meaningful way. First and foremost, the animal clinical biochemist must be positioned as a scientist with a unique capability to cross disciplinary lines as befits the needs to understand interspecies nuances. As a corollary, there is a need for the animal clinical biochemist to not only keep abreast of new developments but to be a generator of new knowledge in the field. This then implies that research and dissemination of new knowledge is an inherent responsibility of those in the field. In this way, the animal clinical biochemist is positioned as an independent scientist/principal investigator in a broad range of studies involving animals. This further implies that animal clinical biochemists must broaden their knowledge of clinical medicine to be able to converse freely in the ''language of medicine''. Numerous new vistas are described and which can be exploited to advance the field and the scope of activities for animal clinical biochemists. Among these are the Point-of-Care systems, new approaches to diabetes management, thyroid disease, autoimmune disease and tumour markers. The list of additional areas is extensive; markers of inflammation, markers of nutritional disease or deficiency, DNA probes in inherited disease, DNA probes of infectious disease. All of these areas are ripe for new ideas and advances in knowledge needing only the imaginative efforts of the animal clinical biochemist.