Research - October 2015 Archives

Recommendations balance research participant privacy with family need for health information ROCHESTER, MINN. – A blue-ribbon project group funded by the National Institutes of Health has published the first consensus guidelines on how researchers should share genomic findings in research on adults and children with other family members. The recommendations, published in the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, offer direction on sharing information before and after the death of an individual research participant. “These recommendations will have an impact on future human subject protection policies when genetic research is performed,” says Gloria Petersen, Ph.D. of Mayo Clinic, who co-authored the guidelines with Susan Wolf, J.D., of the University of Minnesota, and Barbara Koenig, Ph.D. of the University of California, San Francisco. The authors say the explosive growth of genomic research has led to tough questions about what to do with the resulting information. Should researchers share an individual’s private results with family members who may share that genetic risk? The question often pits individual privacy against family need. MEDIA CONTACT: Joe Dangor, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu 

ROCHESTER, Minn. — The American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA), the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC), Mayo Clinic, and the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) have joined faculty and researchers from around the world to host the Sex and Gender Based Medical Education Summit at Mayo Clinic on October 18-19, 2015. The full program agenda can be found here: Final Summit Agenda.  "As we enter the world of precision medicine, medical research about basic sex differences between men and women must be incorporated into curriculum for physicians and all health care providers for it to be translated into better outcomes for patients," says Virginia Miller, Ph.D., director of Women’s Health Research Center at Mayo Clinic.  This summit is the first of its kind, a national collaboration dedicated to engaging educational thought leaders in creating a roadmap to integrate sex- and gender-based evidence into medical and interprofessional education. The meeting will feature world-renowned experts in the field of sex- and gender-based medicine as well as curriculum leaders in academic medicine. Over 100 representatives from medical schools in the United States and Canada will be in attendance. MEDIA CONTACT: Ethan Grove, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye7Vt4v98-0 WHAT: “Feel the Beat” brings together families, researchers and clinicians to learn more about, and raise awareness of, hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a rare and complex form of congenital heart disease in which the left side of a child's heart is severely underdeveloped. The event, built around science, advocacy, families and patients, invites those in the HLHS community to share experiences while discovering the unique regenerative therapies being pioneered for congenital heart disease. Children and families from across the U.S. will participate in team-building challenges and interactive sessions led by physicians and researchers. WHERE: Mayo Clinic, Gonda Building, Rochester, Minnesota WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 17, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. To view the itinerary, visit the HLHS Cause to Cure blog. WHO: Interviews are available with Timothy Nelson, M.D., Ph.D., director, Todd and Karen Wanek Family Program for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and Christopher Moir, M.D., a Mayo Clinic pediatric surgeon who led the team to successfully separate 5-month-old conjoined twins in 2006. This year’s guests include Ethan Bortnick, a 14-year-old piano prodigy who has been playing for audiences worldwide and Joslynn Jarrett-Skelton, author of the book series “Charlie the Courageous.” At approximately 11:30 a.m., the children will be joined by the “superhero window washers,” who will make a surprise entrance to greet the children from the windows outside of the Gonda atrium and pose for pictures. MEDIA CONTACT: RSVP to Jennifer Schutz, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, at 507-284-5005 or newsbureau@mayo.edu

Rochester, Minn. — Mayo Clinic will host the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) symposium Oct. 9-10, 2015. The symposium aims to further the collaborative approach to initiate and accelerate discovery in brain science. Government, industry and academic leaders and researchers from across the globe will convene in Rochester to further their work in neuroscience research and therapies. Walter Koroshetz, M.D., the director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, will be the keynote speaker. “By bringing together stakeholders from across the range of groups involved in the BRAIN Initiative, we hope to highlight the dual promises of the BRAIN Initiative: to drive public/private collaboration toward developing revolutionary tools to aid the basic understanding of the brain and to quickly translate these discoveries into therapies,” says Kendall Lee, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic neurosurgeon, who leads the Mayo Clinic Neural Engineering Laboratory, a team of more than 30 neurosurgeons, neurobiologists, engineers, imaging scientists and support staff. This team and the collaborators from the University of Texas in El Paso and Hanyang University in Korea won the BRAIN Initiative award to develop deep brain stimulation technology to detect the release of neurotransmitters in the living brain and modulate brain activity. MEDIA CONTACT: Duska Anastasijevic, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Researchers at Mayo Clinic were awarded a $6.8 million, five-year federal grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop intelligent devices to track and treat abnormal brain activity in people with epilepsy. The grant, part of a presidential initiative aimed at revolutionizing the understanding of the human brain, is called Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies or the BRAIN Initiative. Epilepsy affects 60 million people worldwide and 3 million in the U.S. Approximately one-third of people with epilepsy will continue having seizures, despite taking daily medications. Seizures, the hallmark of epilepsy, are sudden events that strike patients without warning. The goal of the research is to develop an implantable device that can record brain activity continuously to forecast upcoming seizures and stimulate multiple brain regions in real time to prevent seizures before they ever occur. Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Worrell are available in the downloads. MEDIA CONTACT: Duska Anastasijevic, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, email: newsbureau@mayo.edu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eGfr9JXLxY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyY7cYamMAA ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic’s annual Heritage Days celebration takes place next week, Oct. 5–9. An array of celebratory events and activities will be held across the institution to thank all of the dedicated employees and volunteers who provide service to patients. All events and activities are free and open to the public. The theme of this year’s Heritage Days is "Salute to Service,” which honors the involvement of various generations of Mayo Clinic employees and supporters of the armed forces who served on the battlefield and homefront. The year 2015 marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, during which William Worrall Mayo, M.D., moved to Rochester upon his appointment as an enrolling surgeon for the Union Army, as well as the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, during which Mayo Clinic provided innovative medical science. MEDIA CONTACT: Kelley Luckstein, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu