TESTING LAB MAINTAINS SERVICE OFFICE FOR CAPE

Metropolitan Reference Laboratories (METRO), which maintains a Cape Girardeau service office at its new medical testing laboratory in St. Louis, processes some 5,000 medical samples each night.

The new, 70,000-square-foot state-of-the-art lab opened recently.

"The lab operates seven days a week, 24 hours a day," said Steve Turner of the firm. "It is equipped to handle more than 20,000 samples daily."

The lab tests samples from 10 Midwest and Southern states, said Turner.

METRO couriers pick up specimens on a daily basis, said Turner. "The specimens are taken to the laboratory in St. Louis and results are transmitted to clients by computers the following morning."

The 5-year-old company has grown from 68 employees to more than 400, including more than 100 technicians. Volume increases at the rate of 34 percent a year.

METRO is a Corning Clinical Laboratory.