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Health & Wellness
Precision Medicine Initiative and the Mayo Clinic Biobank
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Mayo Clinic is excited about the national focus on individualized medicine and what the future holds. More than half ($130 million) of the total $215 million budget request, put forth by President Obama's Precision Medicine Initiative, is for a national biobanking initiative that draws on existing collections across the country. Mayo Clinic has among the country’s largest collections through the Mayo Clinic Biobank and the Biorepositories Program.
Mayo Clinic and the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine have made a significant commitment to building a scalable biorepository infrastructure, which includes multiple specimen processing laboratories and centralized storage.
One of these collections is the Mayo Clinic Biobank, a collection of blood samples and health information donated by Mayo Clinic patients. The Biobank collects samples and health information from patients and other volunteers, regardless of health history. The Biobank was established at Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minn., and recruitment began in April 2009. Since then, the Biobank has expanded to Mayo Clinic's campuses in Jacksonville, Fla. and Scottsdale, Ariz., in addition to the Mayo Clinic Health System. The Biobank aims to enroll 50,000 Mayo Clinic patients by 2016 to support a wide array of health-related research studies at Mayo Clinic and other institutions.
Steve Thibodeau, David F. and Margaret T. Grohne Director, Biorepositories Program facts about the Mayo Clinic Biobank.
Journalists: Soundbites with Dr. Thibodeau and b-roll of the Mayo Clinic Biobank are available in the downloads.
MEDIA CONTACT: Sam Smith, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu
- Mayo Clinic Biobank is one of the country’s largest unified collections of patient samples that are matched with a standardized epidemiology questionnaire, related information from the electronic medical record, and a broad consent for use.
- 44,000 samples of patients from all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico and Washington D.C., are stored at -80 degrees Celsius (-112 Fahrenheit). Participants range in age from 18 to 99 years old.
- 134 research projects are actively using Biobank samples, with more under review.
- The Mayo Clinic Biobank is the largest of hundreds of sample collections at Mayo Clinic. The Grohne Building at Mayo Clinic is currently capable of storing approximately 7 million blood and DNA samples, with room to expand to about 21 million.
- All samples in the Mayo Clinic Biobank are de-identified before storage, making it nearly impossible for researchers (or anyone else) to misuse samples or discover a patient’s identity.
Visit http://www.mayo.edu/research/centers-programs/mayo-clinic-biobank/overview and http://mayoresearch.mayo.edu/center-for-individualized-medicine/biorepositories.asp for more information.
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About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to medical research and education, and providing expert, whole-person care to everyone who needs healing. For more information, visit http://www.mayoclinic.org/about-mayo-clinic or https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/.
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