Stories

By collaborating with Mayo Clinic Laboratories, Morris Hospital & Healthcare Center has been able to expand complex and specialized lab testing in the communities they serve.

In Mayo Clinic’s Advanced Diagnostics Laboratory, there are dozens of projects underway at once to develop new technologies, discover novel findings, validate new tests, and support physicians in providing advanced patient care. For example, researchers are using phage immunoprecipitation sequencing (PhIP-Seq) to discover new serological biomarkers for autoimmune diseases. In a recent study using PhIP-Seq, Mayo Clinic researchers discovered a previously unknown antibody marker for immune-mediated rippling muscle disease (iRMD). This finding will support testing options and accurate diagnosis of iRMD, helping physicians treat patients with iRMD and restore their quality of life.

This week's research roundup features: A simple score to identify increased risk of transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction

This week's research roundup features: Outcomes of tricuspid valve repair with artificial neochordae in pediatric and adult patients

Kenneth Hobby assumed his fever, fatigue, and aching pains in May 2018 were from another bout of malaria. He was on one of his frequent visits to Zambia in southern Africa, where the mosquito-borne parasite is common. But anti-malaria drugs didn't help, and soon Kenneth had such disabling pain that he could barely walk.

This week's research roundup features: Kidney biopsy chronicity grading in antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis

This week's research roundup features: High-sensitivity cardiac troponin and the 2021 AHA/ACC/ASE/CHEST/SAEM/SCCT/SCMR guidelines for the evaluation and diagnosis of acute chest pain

Tim Plummer is an operations administrator at Mayo Clinic Laboratories supporting the Division of Anatomic Pathology. He supports his team members by providing them with tools and resources to innovate and succeed. He has worked at Mayo Clinic for over 36 years and is driven by the determination to help people solve problems, help others be happy and successful, and be a part of solutions.

This week's research roundup features: Identification of caveolae-associated protein 4 autoantibodies as a biomarker of immune-mediated rippling muscle disease in adults.

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.

This week's research roundup features: Type 1, type 2 myocardial infarction and non-ischemic myocardial injury-opinion from the front lines

At just 24-years-old Anya Magnuson has survived not just one but two close encounters with death. Focused, determined, and intent on experiencing life to its fullest, Anya never gave up. Nor did the multidisciplinary Mayo Clinic care team who worked tirelessly to heal her.

Todd Walker is a laboratory supervisor for Mayo Clinic Laboratories, Specimen Operations, where he helps lead the department that serves as the gateway between collecting and delivering specimens and getting them processed. Todd credits his diverse, agile team and the impressive global logistics infrastructure that allows them to support the processing of 40,000 specimens in a day.