What is medical biology?

Medical biology refers to a medical specialty that uses laboratory techniques (analysis, microscopy, immunology, bacteriology, virology, haematology, etc.) to contribute notably to the evaluation of a patient’s health, the diagnosis of pathologies, the follow-up of treatments, etc...

Medical biology covers several specialised branches:

• Biology of infectious agents (bacteria, viruses, parasites and hospital hygiene)
• Reproductive biology (analysis of seminal fluids and technical assistance for medically assisted reproduction)
• Immunology (study of the body’s defence mechanisms, essential during transplants and grafts)
• Biological haematology (diagnosis of blood pathologies)
• Molecular biology (study of molecules supporting hereditary coding – DNA and RNA nucleic acids)
• Cytogenetics (study of chromosomes).

What does a medical biologist do?

A medical biologist validates patients’ laboratory analyses and interprets the results. He or she thus participates in the screening of pathologies and contributes to – or even performs – a medical diagnosis. This practitioner also gives a medical opinion, making it possible to guide, monitor or adapt a treatment (antibiotics, for example). Today, the role of the medical biologist is tending to evolve towards preventative medicine, given the discovery of the importance of intestinal microbiota (bacteria), antibiotic resistance, advances in obstetrics and the worldwide obesity epidemic.

When to see a medical biologist

It is the patient’s GP or the specialist previously consulted who will refer the patient to a medical biologist for further tests. The analyses carried out and the interpretation of their results help to make or clarify a diagnosis, making it possible to monitor or modify a treatment, in consultation with the prescribing doctor.

How to choose a medical testing laboratory

Medical biology is practiced either in laboratories, clinics or hospitals. As many tests require a period of fasting beforehand, proximity can be a key criterion in choosing a medical testing laboratory. In order to be able to rapidly compare the results of analyses with those obtained during previous testing, it may be useful to contact the same laboratory, which has archived the patient’s previous analyses, if possible. Some specific tests also require highly sophisticated technical platforms that not all laboratories are equipped with. In this case, the prescribing doctor will refer the patient to the most suitable laboratory.