Stories

Joe Mondloch and his wife Sue have existed in a grey area of uncertainty due to the unpredictable autoimmune neurological illness Joe has lived with for the last seven years. Rare, incurable, and debilitating, the newly classified disorder can be hard to manage. But thanks to information and direction provided by a rare disease advocacy group, the Mondlochs sought care at Mayo Clinic and received much more than answers.

As the creative director for Mayo Clinic Laboratories, Amy Turunen finds that each day brings unique creative opportunities and marketing projects. Through her design work and creative direction, Amy helps to curate testing awareness and provide insightful information to physicians, lab partners, and patients.

This week's research roundup feature: Emergence of inducible macrolide resistance in mycobacterium chelonae due to broad-host-range plasmid and chromosomal variants of the novel 23S rRNA methylase gene, erm(55).

This week's research roundup feature: SARS-CoV-2 spike codon mutations and risk of hospitalization after antispike monoclonal antibody therapy in solid organ transplant recipients.

In 2010, Jessica Balcom began her career with Mayo Clinic supporting molecular testing in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology with a joint appointment in the Mayo Clinic Cystic Fibrosis Center. Now she serves as a hematology-oncology genetic counselor supervisor managing a large team of genetic counselors, assistants, and a clinical variant scientist who help guide appropriate utilization of genetic testing.

This week's research roundup feature: Career decisions, training priorities, and perceived challenges for anesthesiology residents in the United States.

VEXAS syndrome is a severe autoinflammatory disease that results in a spectrum of rheumatologic and hematologic conditions. The underlying cause of newly identified VEXAS (vacuoles, E1 enzyme, X-linked, autoinflammatory, somatic) syndrome — somatic mutations in the UBA1 gene of blood cells — was discovered at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2020. Within six months, Mayo Clinic Laboratories was able to add a UBA1 test to the MayoComplete panel, as the team simultaneously worked on a single gene assay to allow doctors to test specifically for UBA1 mutations to screen patients for VEXAS syndrome. The team opted for a droplet digital PCR test — a novel and highly accurate approach to testing for UBA1 gene mutations.

This week's research roundup feature: Plasma biomarkers for prediction of Alzheimer's disease neuropathologic change.

As a senior product manager for Mayo Clinic Laboratories, Ben Levno supports the neurology segment of specialty testing. While Mayo Clinic physicians have access to our world-renowned neurology testing to diagnose and care for patients, Ben’s job is to increase access to those same resources for providers and patients around the world.

This week's research roundup feature: Utilizing mass spectrometry to detect and isotype monoclonal proteins in urine: Comparison to electrophoretic methods.

CT scans and hiatal/abdominal ultrasounds could not uncover why, whenever he ate steak, Joseph Ducaji experienced severe stomach problems, itchy hives, chills, and nausea. It took specialized testing from Mayo Clinic to unlock a little-known condition caused by a tick bite (and, no, it’s not Lyme disease).

This week's research roundup feature: Clinical and molecular correlates of somatic and germline DDX41 variants in patients and families with myeloid neoplasms.

This week's research roundup feature: Relationship between BCL2 mutations and follicular lymphoma outcome in the chemoimmunotherapy era.