Hot Topic

In this month's "Hot Topic," Nicole Boczek, Ph.D., assistant professor and laboratory director in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, and Sarah Barnett, M.S., CGC, discuss diagnostic exploratory testing, explain why it’s important to the field of many specialty practice areas, and help determine which testing may be the most valuable for a given patient.

In this month's "Hot Topic," Megan Hoenig, M.S., M.P.H., CGC, a licensed and certified genetic counselor with the Division of Laboratory Genetics and Genomics at Mayo Clinic Laboratories, describes the principles and benefits of Familial Variant Targeted Testing (FMTT).

In this month's "Hot Topic," Patricia Greipp, D.O., discusses fluorescence in situ hybridization, or FISH testing, particularly related to pediatric patients with hematologic malignancies.

In this month’s “Hot Topic,” Anne Tebo, Ph.D., discusses recent updates in the testing for anti-SS-A/Ro antibodies in systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases.

In this month's "Hot Topic," Melissa Snyder, Ph.D., identifies the clinical application of testing for Streptococcus pneumoniae polysaccharide antibodies and describes the tests available for measuring these antibodies.

In this “Hot Topic,” Divyanshu Dubey, M.B.B.S., associate professor of laboratory medicine and pathology and neurology at Mayo Clinic, discusses various clinical and paraclinical features of autoimmune encephalitis, autoimmune seizures, and epilepsy.

In this month’s “Hot Topic,” Julia Lehman, M.D., professor of dermatology and laboratory medicine and pathology, discusses a subepidermal disease mediated by collagen VII autoantibodies.

In this “Hot Topic,” Alicia Algeciras-Schimnich, Ph.D., professor of laboratory medicine and pathology at Mayo Clinic, discusses the role of bone turnover markers in osteoporosis treatment as well as how to best interpret changes in bone turnover markers.

In this “Hot Topic,” Joshua Bornhorst, Ph.D., assistant professor of laboratory medicine and pathology at Mayo Clinic, reviews biomarker component testing for hepatocellular carcinoma, explains the GALAD score, and explores GALAD score testing at Mayo Clinic Laboratories.

In this “Hot Topic,” Paul Jannetto, Ph.D., highlights Mayo Clinic’s targeted benzodiazepine assay and discusses the advantages and limitations of various urine-screening assays as well as quantitative confirmatory testing to determine compliance to benzodiazepine therapy.

In this month's "Hot Topic," Bobbi Pritt, M.D., describes the challenges to traditional microscopy for the detection of protozoa in stool specimens, lists potential uses of artificial intelligence in parasite detection, and discusses workflow modifications that may be needed when implementing digital slide scanning and AI-assisted interpretation.

In this month's "Hot Topic," David Murray, M.D., Ph.D., reviews the role of urine testing for monoclonal gammopathies and discusses Mayo Clinic’s use of MASS-FIX to replace traditional immunofixation testing.

In this month's "Hot Topic," Eoin Flanagan, M.B., B.Ch., reviews the recent diagnostic criteria for Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein Antibody-associated Disease (MOGAD).