Moving from the research lab to clinical care: Precision medicine coming to your medical provider’s office

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Individualized medicine — the concept of matching medical care precisely to each patient’s genes, lifestyle and environment is no longer  just a theory. Experts in individualized medicine — also known as personalized or precision medicine — will be in Rochester Oct. 9-10, presenting the latest ways to apply precision medicine to all patients. They are available for interviews on groundbreaking discoveries at Individualizing Medicine 2017: Advancing Care Through Genomics, which will be held at Mayo Civic Center.

Members of the media are invited to interview these experts on the following topics.

From cancer to cardiovascular care and neurological diseases– the newest ways genetic testing is advancing precise diagnosis and treatment of patients; Keith Stewart, M.B., Ch.B., director, Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine.
With improving technology, DNA sequencing is getting faster and cheaper. That has made possible new opportunities to apply DNA testing to precision care – from people with low blood counts to those with genetically inherited high cholesterol. Dr. Stewart can discuss how advanced genetic tests further his vision that all patients can benefit from an individualized approach to diagnosis and treatment.

Genetic testing to manage pain in light of the opioid addiction crisis.
Pharmacogenomics matches the right drug at the right dose at the right time for you based on your genetic makeup to:

• Manage pain more safely and effectively to avoid opioid over prescriptions- Timothy Curry, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine; Halena Gazelka, M.D., Mayo Clinic; Wayne Nicholson, M.D., Pharm.D., Mayo Clinic; William Mauck, M.D., Mayo Clinic; Gordon University of Zagreb & Genos Glycoscience Research Laboratory.
  Pharmacogenomics testing is emerging an individualized approach to finding therapies that relieve pain with fewer side effects. Understanding how a person’s genes interact with medication holds possibilities of identifying which patients would benefit from appropriate use of opioids and which may be at risk of abuse.
• Individualized therapies for quitting smoking – Rachel Tyndale, Ph.D., professor of Pharmacology and Psychiatry, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and University of Toronto.
  Dr. Tyndale is taking the struggle to quit smoking to the molecular level. She can share her team’s research into how a person’s genetic makeup impacts addiction and drug response.

Mayo Clinic is a leader in bringing pharmacogenomics to patients.The following experts who can talk about the importance of proactive pharmacogenomics testing:

• Richard Weinshilboum, M.D., Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine Dr. Weinshilboum can help you understand why some medications cause side effects while others don’t seem to work at all. As co-director of the Pharmacogenomics Program at the Center for Individualized Medicine, Dr. Weinshilboum studies which medications are best suited to a person’s individual genome.
• Physician testimonials – Potential lifesaving discoveries surfaced when a group of Mayo Clinic providers had pharmacogenomic genetic testing. Physicians can share the significance of what they learned and how it changed their approach to their own medical care. *A physician-patient story is available.
  

NIH’s All of Us Research Program, part of the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) – Stephanie Devaney, Ph.D., Deputy director, All of Us Research Program.
Dr. Devaney can speak on the Precision Medicine Initiative All of Us Research Program. This unprecedented study is enrolling 1 million or more people into a research cohort to advance an individualized approach to managing health and disease. Mayo Clinic’s biobank will store participants’ blood and biospecimens used in the research.

Personal Genomics: home DNA tests; DNA sequencing of all newborns and healthy people– Robert Green, M.D., – Medical geneticist, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Green can speak to questions about home DNA test kits that are being marketed across the internet as well as on TV. He co-directs the NIH-funded PGen Study, one of the first to explore direct-to-consumer (home DNA) genetic testing services. He also leads the MedSeq and the BabySeq Projects that examines the use of genomic sequencing in patients who are healthy and those with hereditary disease.

Rare and undiagnosed diseases are more common than you think – William Gahl, M.D., Ph.D., Clinical Director, National Human Genome Research Institute;
Dusica Babovic, M.D., Chair, Department of Clinical Genomics, Mayo Clinic.
As many as 30 million Americans suffer from some form of a rare disease. Many people with mysterious conditions suffer for years without a diagnosis. The need to solve undiagnosed disease cases has grown into an international network. Dr. Gahl, head of the NIH Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases Program, can speak about how genetic testing brings an individualized approach to unsolved cases. *Patient story available.

Genomic testing on blood to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment – Minetta Liu, M.D., Division of Medical Oncology and Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology,  Mayo Clinic.
Mayo Clinic is optimizing gene panels capable of detecting cancer through blood tests that screen for DNA and cells from tumors. These tests could catch some early cancer cases that current screening methods miss. Dr. Liu will speak about the impact on diagnosis and treatment for cancer patients.

How your microbiome – the community of bacteria in your gut – impacts your health –Rob Knight, Ph.D., Director, Center for Microbiome Innovation, University of California, San Diego; David Relman, M.D., Stanford University; Purna Kashyap, M.B.B.S., Mayo Clinic.
These experts can speak to the term “trust your gut,” when it comes to fighting disease. From individualized diets to connections to rheumatoid arthritis, your microbiome is important to not just a healthy digestive system, but also to your overall health.

Additional information

For media covering the conference on site, Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine will offer patient interviews with those suffering from a rare disease as well as testimonials from physicians who went through pharmacogenomics testing.

Dr. Stewart is the Carlson and Nelson Endowed Director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine. He is also recognized as the Vasek and Anna Maria Polak Professor of Cancer Research.

Dr. Weinshilboum is the Mary Lou and John H. Dasburg Professor of Cancer Genomics, professor of medicine and pharmacology at the Mayo College of Medicine and Science, and the Pharmacogenomics program director at the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine.
The Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine is hosting the conference with support from the Jackson Family Foundation.
###

About Center for Individualized Medicine
Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine discovers, translates and applies new findings in genomic research into individualized medicine products and services for patients everywhere. For more information, visit mayoresearch.mayo.edu/center-for-individualized-medicine.

About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to medical research and education, and providing expert, comprehensive care to everyone who needs healing. For more information, visit mayoclinic.org/about-mayo-clinic or newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org.

MEDIA CONTACT
Susan Buckles, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu