Research - January 2015 Archives

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Mayo Clinic’s campus in Jacksonville, Florida, has received a $5.75 million gift from the Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Foundation in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to advance the study of Lewy body dementia, a deadly disease that causes a progressive decline in mental and physical abilities. The new Mayo program is one of a few in the world dedicated to finding answers and treatments for the disease. The gift establishes the Mayo Clinic Dorothy and Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Lewy Body Dementia Program and builds on the foundation’s previous support of Mayo research to advance awareness and understanding of Lewy body dementia. It also helps support the brain bank on Mayo’s Florida campus, which includes about 1,000 donated organs of deceased patients confirmed to have had Lewy body dementia. MEDIA CONTACT: Kevin Punsky, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 904-953-0746  Email:punsky.kevin@mayo.edu Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Dickson are available in the downloads. http://youtu.be/KwNEYp-3Y-4

Mayo Clinic researchers have invited approximately 200 area eighth grade and high school students to the 16th Biennial Celebration of Research, a daylong conference for students interested in learning about careers in science. The keynote address, "Harnessing Viruses to Attack Cancer," will be presented by Eva Galanis, M.D., a professor of oncology and chair of the Department of Molecular Medicine at Mayo Clinic. This year's theme, "Going Viral," pertains to Dr. Galanis’ research and clinical efforts on using modified viruses to develop novel therapeutics for cancer treatment. Students are scheduled to attend from Albert Lea, Altura, Austin, Blooming Prairie, Caledonia, Chatfield, Dover, Elgin, Eyota, Faribault, Grand Meadow, Houston, Kasson, Kenyon, Lanesboro, Lewiston, Lyle, Mantorville, Mazeppa, Millville, Northfield, Owatonna, Peterson, Pine Island, Plainview, Rochester, Rushford, Southland, Stewartville, Winona and Zumbrota.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A study of more than 2,000 patients by researchers at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Jacksonville, Florida, has dispelled the myth that cancer biopsies cause cancer to spread. In the Jan. 9 online issue of Gut, they show that patients who received a biopsy had a better outcome and longer survival than patients who did not have a biopsy. The researchers studied pancreatic cancer, but the findings likely apply to other cancers because diagnostic technique used in this study — fine needle aspiration — is commonly used across tumor types, says the study’s senior investigator and gastroenterologist Michael Wallace, M.D., M.P.H., professor of medicine. Fine needle aspiration is a minimally invasive technique that uses a thin and hollow needle to extract a few cells from a tumor mass. A long-held belief by a number of patients and even some physicians has been that a biopsy can cause some cancer cells to spread. While there have been a few case reports that suggest this can happen — but very rarely — there is no need for patients to be concerned about biopsies, says Dr. Wallace. “This study shows that physicians and patients should feel reassured that a biopsy is very safe,” he says. “We do millions of biopsies of cancer a year in the U.S., but one or two case studies have led to this common myth that biopsies spread cancer.”