Mayo Clinic Laboratories > Life of a Specimen

Life of a Specimen

An insightful journey

At Mayo Clinic Laboratories, a specimen’s journey is a carefully orchestrated search for clues about a patient’s health. Safeguarded by dedicated laboratory professionals throughout their testing journey, specimens are viewed as more than vials of blood or cells on a slide. A sample represents a living person, an individual seeking answers, a patient in need of hope — and each one is precious.

The life of a testing specimen begins well before it arrives at Mayo Clinic Laboratories. Sparked by a question, it starts with a patient in need of help. Through our clinically validated testing, each specimen journey ends with accurate insights that can open the door to another journey. One often leading to a healthier future.

“Life of a Specimen” video series offers a close-up look at the path taken by patient specimens and shares the journey of one patient whose life was profoundly impacted by Mayo Clinic Laboratories testing.

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Joy’s journey

A patient specimen is a snapshot of a human body at a point in time, a microscopic landscape filled with critical data on diagnosis and disease, recovery and healing, life, and sometimes even death.

The evaluation of Joy Carol’s cerebrospinal fluid at Mayo Clinic Laboratories revealed antibodies associated with a harmful autoimmune response. Driven by an underlying cancer, her immune system, in an attempt to fight the cancer, mounted an attack against her central nervous system. The revelation enabled a diagnosis and led to treatment that reversed the course of Joy’s life-threatening illness.

For Joy, and countless patients like her, advanced laboratory testing can provide answers to seemingly unanswerable questions.

“I would not be here, that is for sure, if it weren’t for Mayo Clinic and that diagnostic laboratory in Rochester, Minnesota. There was no way of knowing how to treat me until I had that diagnosis.”

Read on to learn more about Joy’s path through diagnosis and treatment.

 Diagnosed with a devastating neurological condition that nearly took her life, Joy Carol is ever grateful for the Mayo Clinic Laboratories’ test that provided her with a life-saving answer.
Each day, nearly 40,000 patient samples arrive at Mayo Clinic Laboratories. From accessioning to resulting, each specimen is meticulously tracked throughout its testing journey.
Throughout Mayo Clinic Laboratories’ 50-year history, an integrated network of laboratory and clinical collaborators -- inspired by the shared mission of meeting the needs of patients -- has supported test development.

“Having a patient across the world, sending their sample in, hoping to have some answers that maybe they weren’t able to have locally is just incredible. And many of us, myself included, feel passionate about knowing that every day we could be changing an outcome for a patient.”

Angela Reese-Davis, operations manager for Mayo Clinic Laboratories Specimen Operations

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