Stories – Eye on Innovation
In a recent study, Mayo Clinic researchers developed the first cellular DNA barcoding with a machine-learning approach to reveal previously unknown metastatic behavior of tumor cells. Researchers barcoded the DNA of millions of human ovarian cancer cells and transplanted them in mice, where rare tumor initiating cells and their progenies could be tracked within the primary tumor as well as in every other organ they were spreading into. The entire community of cells generated by a single barcoded cell had identical barcodes. This enabled the tracking of a large number of benign and metastatic clones by sequencing DNA barcodes in tumors and various organs, including blood and ascites. Using the cellular DNA barcoding approach and a newly developed data analysis system, researchers could track clonal growth dynamics in various metastatic sites and trace it back to its ancestral tumor-initiating cell. They used artificial intelligence to tackle the complex data to identify if the clonal metastatic spread is happening peritoneally or through blood routes.
Bringing together advanced testing technology, unparalleled expertise, and a patient-focused approach, Mayo Clinic Laboratories’ new high-resolution urine drug testing profile, ADMPU, evaluates for 22 drug classes including alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine, enabling clarity on substance use and precision insights that propel treatment.
This unique Mayo Clinic resource offers a novel portal into the study of gene mutations before they cause breast cancer.
As Mayo Clinic’s Anatomic Pathology moves from traditional glass slides to digital images, the advance in technology is achieving clear benefits in collaboration, learning, and patient care.
In a world of ever-faster technical change, Mayo Clinic Laboratories is uniquely positioned to innovate. Collaboration with clinicians pinpoints unmet patient needs and facilitates the development of diagnostic testing that provides answers.
Successful implementation of a new slide scanning and analysis platform across five laboratories represents a significant step forward in Mayo Clinic’s digital pathology program — an initiative that combines advanced technology with human expertise to better serve patients.
Experts at Mayo Clinic have developed a unique method of testing that combines new technology with novel bioinformatics to promptly detect a group of uncommon genetic conditions that are often difficult to identify.
To safeguard patient samples, staff in Mayo Clinic’s Histology Laboratory devised an inventive way to ensure that none of the paraffin-embedded blocks processed in the lab ever ends up in the trash.
The quest to create a test pinpointing the source of the rare, testicular cancer-associated illness successfully concluded in the summer of 2021.
As chair of Mayo Clinic’s new Division of Computational Pathology and AI in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Jason Hipp, M.D., Ph.D., is eager to employ the most innovative tools available to benefit patients around the globe.
In a newly published study, a team from Mayo Clinic’s Advanced Diagnostics Laboratory has developed a mass spectrometry-based assay that’s able to detect COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pathogens from human proteins with, remarkably, 98% sensitivity and 100% specificity. This is the first assay of its kind that can detect viral antigens “directly from clinical specimens” such as nasopharyngeal swabs. Mass spectrometry is a sensitive technique used to detect, identify, and quantitate molecules present in a sample.
A web of innovation within Mayo Clinic Laboratories links research and test development with clinical practice, enabling for some of the world’s most pioneering methodologies. Underpinning this innovation network are unique supports that provide inventive and essential solutions to broaden testing capabilities.
It’s been understood for some time that an infection of B. mayonii, a rare species of bacterium, results in high levels of spirochetes in the peripheral blood. But actually being able to visualize them on a routine peripheral blood smear may allow for improved recognition of this uncommon cause of Lyme disease.