Mayo Clinic Laboratories' rapid response to public health threats has been honed during outbreaks of viruses like 2009’s H1N1 influenza, Zika, Ebola and, most recently, COVID-19. Before COVID-19, laboratory staff were already experts in developing and implementing new tests — but never on such an aggressive timeline.

PACE - In this month’s “Virtual Lecture,” William Morice, M.D., Ph.D., gives an overview of the national response to the need for COVID-19 testing at the onset of, and during, the pandemic.

Dr. Morice talks about what lies ahead for laboratory medicine and how the opportunities and challenges in the field are intertwined.

Saliva testing has emerged as a viable option for obtaining rapid, reliable test results during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Darci Block considers how this type of testing may expand beyond the pandemic, and the obstacles in its way.

Of five articles listed among the Journal of Clinical Microbiology’s “Top Cited” collection from the last two years, three included Mayo Clinic authors with papers focused on SARS-CoV-2.