Research

Mayo Clinic researchers have invited approximately 200 area high school students to the 14th biennial Celebration of Research, a daylong conference for students interested in ...

The winter issue of Mayo Clinic’s research magazine Discovery’s Edge, is now available in print as well as online. Highlighted articles are listed below.   Breast Cancer: ...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The drug bevacizumab, also known by the trade name Avastin, shrinks tumors briefly in patients with an aggressive brain cancer known as ...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida have identified a new target to improve treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cancer, which accounts for ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic announced today that it will receive funding through the Biomarkers of Gut Function and Health program within the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative. This initiative was launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to overcome persistent bottlenecks preventing the creation of new and better health solutions for the developing world. William Faubion, M.D., a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist, will continue to pursue a research project titled "Gut Permeability in Environmental Enteropathy." MULTIMEDIA ALERT: A video interview with Dr. Faubion is available for journalists to download on the Mayo Clinic News Network. "Our team at Mayo Clinic is excited about the opportunity to impact this devastating global health problem, and given this unique partnership between our pediatric population and that of the developing world, this project will truly be about kids helping kids," says Dr. Faubion. The goal of the Biomarkers of Gut Function grant program is to identify and validate biomarkers that can assess gut function and guide new ways to improve the health and development of children in the developing world. Dr. Faubion's project is one of seven grants recently announced. "Safeguarding the health of young children is one of the world's most urgent priorities and a core focus of our work," says Chris Wilson, Director of Discovery & Translational Sciences at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "We hope the suite of grants announced today will give us a deeper understanding of the reasons underlying stunted growth in children in the developing world and how this can be predicted to guide new approaches to improve the health and development of these children." Environmental enteropathy is a disease of the small intestines of infants. It is a condition that affects approximately 146 million infants in developing countries. The condition disturbs digestion and absorption of nutrients, which leaves the infants malnourished. This malnourishment inhibits growth and development, which affects the children throughout their lifetimes. "These kids never reach their full potential," explains Dr. Faubion. "The trouble for physicians is how to identify the infants with enteropathy." This study hopes to define a simple test that can be used to identify afflicted infants.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — It's the medical resource behind discoveries that have affected patients around the globe, treasured by researchers and funded by the National Institutes of Health for nearly 50 years: the Rochester Epidemiology Project. This comprehensive medical records pool makes Olmsted County, Minn., one of the few places in the world where scientists can study virtually an entire geographic population to identify trends in disease, evaluate treatments and find factors that put people at risk for illness — or protect them. And, as it nears the half-century mark, the project is still growing. Health care providers in seven southeastern Minnesota counties are adding patients' records, including Dodge, Fillmore, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Wabasha and Winona, more than doubling the number of area residents included. VIDEO ALERT: Video with Dr. Rocca is available for journalists to download on the Mayo Clinic News Network. The project has followed a half-million lives since it began. Co-directors Walter Rocca, M.D., a Mayo Clinic neurologist and epidemiologist, and Barbara Yawn, M.D., research director at Olmsted Medical Center, describe how it developed and where it is going in this month's Mayo Clinic Proceedings. "The Rochester Epidemiology Project is unique, especially because of its historical capability. We go back to 1966, and we can look at big chunks of histories of people's lives," Dr. Rocca says. "It's extremely valuable to be able to answer medical questions that have to do with prevention, better care and also with understanding the cost and the effectiveness of our interventions." The project has supported more than 2,000 studies. Research making headlines in recent years includes the findings that women who had their ovaries removed before menopause are at higher risk of dementia; multiple exposures to anesthesia before age 3 are linked to more than double the incidence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; skin cancer is up dramatically in people under 40, especially young women; smoke-free workplace laws save lives; mild cognitive impairment is more prevalent in older men than in older women; and traumatic brain injuries are likely more common than had been believed. Fewer than 5 percent of Olmsted County's residents opt out. Those who take part can help science without getting poked and prodded or even meeting a researcher. The project can be used to study pretty much any condition; dozens of studies that otherwise wouldn't be possible are under way at any given time. The biggest change the Rochester Epidemiology Project is seeing mirrors the nation's changing demographics. While whites of Northern European descent have long made up most of Olmsted County's population, a new wave of immigration means that 1 in 4 children isn't of European descent, Dr. Rocca says. Currently, researchers looking for ethnic differences in studies can compare their findings from the project with a much smaller group of ethnically diverse patients, to see whether there are differences or it's a moot point, he says. The project has its origins in the earliest days of Mayo Clinic. Long before computers existed, Mayo archived patient medical records, believing they would someday prove valuable to researchers. In 1966, Mayo obtained NIH funding to link medical records from health care providers across the county, including Olmsted Medical Center and the Rochester Family Medicine Clinic, and the Rochester Epidemiology Project was born. Eventually technology caught up and the records were put on computer.

It's the most wonderful time of the year; except for when it's not!  On the most recent program, Dr. Mark Frye  joined us to discuss ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — November 28, 2012.  Next week, more than 1,200 people from 25 countries are expected to attend the 8th Annual World Stem Cell Summit" in West Palm Beach, Fla., a gathering sponsored by Mayo Clinic. As those close to the science explore potential stem cell applications, many patients have questions about what stem cells are and how they are being used. Timothy Nelson, M.D., Ph.D., director of Mayo Clinic's Regenerative Medicine Consult Service, answers some of the most commonly asked questions about stem cells: MULTIMEDIA ALERT: Multimedia resources, including a Medical Edge package, are available for journalists to download on the Mayo Clinic News Network. What are stem cells? Stem cells are the body's raw materials. These cells have the ability to renew themselves or change to become specialized cells with a more specific function, such as blood cells, brain cells, heart muscle or bone. Where do stem cells come from? Adult stem cells are found in tissues of the body, such as bone marrow. Emerging evidence suggests that adult stem cells may be more versatile than previously thought and have the ability to create other types of cells. Amniotic fluid stem cells come from the liquid that surrounds a developing fetus in the amniotic sac. More study of amniotic fluid stem cells is needed to understand their potential. Embryonic stem cells are a general stem cell found in embryos. Use of this type of stem cell has significantly declined due to the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells. Induced pluripotent stem cells, commonly known as iPS cells, are derived from an adult stem cell that behaves like an embryonic stem cell. This new technique may help researchers avoid the controversy that comes with embryonic stem cells and prevent immune system rejection of the new stem cells. Mesenchymal stem cells are adult stem cells found in tissues such as bone marrow, blood and the fallopian tube. They can become bone, cartilage, fat and possibly other cells.

Should physicians and researchers, policy makers or the public want to know about diabetes in Minnesota, or available health care options, it's now just a click away. The Minnesota Health Atlas is an online resource where county-by-county data, focused to help the state's diabetic population. It is a unique resource, not available elsewhere in the country. The MN Health Atlas is funded by the Decade of Discovery in Diabetes, a major initiative of the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics. The goal of the Decade of Discovery is to prevent, optimally treat, and ultimately cure type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The partnership includes Mayo Clinic, the University of Minnesota, and the State of Minnesota. "As programs and projects for preventing diabetes roll out across the state, the Minnesota Health Atlas will be increasingly valuable and help inform strategies for diabetes care over large populations," says David Etzwiler, executive director of the Decade of Discovery. "This will be an ongoing, sustainable resource," emphasizes Nilay Shah, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic researcher and program co-director for the Decade of Discovery. "We will be adding information and improving usability as we go forward." The Minnesota Health Atlas collects reported information related to diabetes and population health and makes it available in maps, charts, tables, and data downloads at the county level. Multiple years of data allow for trend analysis and provide a useful tool for monitoring the changing status of diabetes health — even at a local level. Maps show diabetes prevalence as well as factors that impact population health, including obesity, income and employment levels, age, drug prescriptions, personal activity, and cost of care, to name just a few. Some data come from such agencies as the U.S. Census Bureau, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Minnesota Department of Health. Other unique data sources were developed for the MN Health Atlas.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — September 24, 2012.  The Mayo Clinic Cancer Center and Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Iowa have received a five-year, $11.5 million grant renewal from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to continue the Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) for lymphoma research. The renewal was based on a competitive peer-review process conducted by cancer researchers from across the country. The program, known as the lymphoma SPORE, focuses on applying scientific advances to develop new approaches for the prevention, detection, and treatment of lymphoma and lymphoid leukemia. It is the nation's longest-running lymphoma SPORE and has received more than $34 million from the NCI over its lifetime. "Collaboration between researchers at both institutions has led to new discoveries about cancers of the immune system and to clinical trials that test novel treatments," says Thomas Witzig, M.D., a Mayo Clinic hematologist and the SPORE lead researcher. "The advancements we've made and the SPORE grant itself would not have happened if our two organizations hadn't collaborated so well together," says George Weiner, M.D., director and principal investigator of the SPORE and director of Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center. The team's work includes translational and clinical studies exploring the potential of treatments that stimulate the immune system to treat lymphoma; clinical trials targeting lymphoma-specific signaling pathways; discovery of gene mutations in cell-signaling pathways that contribute to development of non-Hodgkin lymphoma; identification of key interactions between lymphoma cells and their microenvironment that can be disrupted to make cancer cells more vulnerable to chemotherapies; and investigation into biomarkers that could have a significant impact on the management of lymphoma. The research team has worked with more than 6,000 patient volunteers to better understand how genetic makeup and other factors impact the clinical outcome of patients with lymphoma and lymphoid leukemia. SPORE funds will provide support for four major research projects, four shared research cores, clinical trials, early pilot projects, and new investigators in lymphoma research at both institutions.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — September 20, 2012.  Mayo Clinic researchers and an international team of scientists have developed a highly-efficient means of editing zebrafish genomes for research purposes, eliminating a bottleneck that has stymied biomedical scientists from using the fish as a model for human disease. The details appear online today in the journal Nature. For many researchers, zebrafish are becoming the model of choice for genetic studies. However, the inability to efficiently target genetic modifications has delayed their use by some. The Mayo team used an improved variant of artificial transcription activator-like effector nucleases, or TALENs, to provide a new approach. "By using genetic engineering tools called TALENs and synthetic DNA to make defined changes in the genomes of our fish, we are able to make small changes (just a few nucleotides) as well as add a specific sequence for biological gene switch applications," says Stephen Ekker, Ph.D., senior author and head of Mayo's zebrafish core facility. "This is the first time we've been able to make custom changes to the zebrafish genome." Dr. Ekker says this toolkit opens the door to a range of new experiments in zebrafish, including modeling of human disease by introducing small point mutations, designing regulated gene alleles, and developing classical structure/function experiments using an animal model system. This new approach has implications for other model systems, including mice, rats, flies and worms, and possible applications in stem cell research. "To our knowledge, this TALEN toolkit also is the most active described to date," says Dr. Ekker. "This has important implications for the growing TALEN field, whether used in fish or any other cells. We used this higher activity for genome editing applications. We also used it to conduct a series of somatic gene function assessments, opening the door to an array of non-germline experiments in zebrafish."

The year-end issue of Mayo Clinic's research magazine Discovery's Edge, is now available online and highlighted articles are listed below. You may cite and link to ...