Answers in Medical Research: Numbers and Highlights

Biomedical research at Mayo Clinic includes outstanding programs in laboratory science, clinical research and population studies — all of which lead to new treatments and a better understanding of disease. This coordinated effort helps Mayo quickly translate research discoveries into better care of patients. Most Mayo medical staff participate in research activities in addition to their medical practice.

Mayo's integrated practice encourages and enables many to play a role in advancing medical research. The number of staff with some part of their time dedicated to research activities totals more than 6,000.

• A Mayo Clinic researcher discovered a target in malaria-carrying mosquitoes that may aid in development of pesticides that are toxic to some mosquito species but not harmful to mammals. The findings could offer a safer and more effective control of mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria.
  
  
• A Mayo Clinic study found that difficulties in the heart's ability to fill with blood are common causes of heart failure. The study is the first large, community-based study to clarify this aspect of heart failure. Researchers believe that as a result of the findings, heart failure can likely be managed more effectively to identify and treat those at highest risk of dying from heart disease.
  
  
• An international research collaboration led by Mayo Clinic — one of the largest studies of its kind — found strong evidence that a genetic risk factor may account for 3 percent of Parkinson's disease cases. The study provides evidence that variations in the alpha-synuclein gene contribute to Parkinson's risk across several populations worldwide.
  
  
• Mayo Clinic researchers, working with colleagues in Germany, devised a multilevel safety feature for viruses used to treat cancer, making cancer-killing viruses more specific to cancer tumor cells and improving the therapeutic effectiveness of viruses. They did this by engineering a modified measles virus that turns on only in the presence of secretions specific to malignant cancer cells. This is a key advance because it provides a way to design a therapeutic virus that is safe, stable and that reliably targets and kills cancer cells.
  
  
• Mayo Clinic, in collaboration with GE Healthcare, began a new program for clinical development of high-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the abdomen, heart, breast and musculoskeletal system using a new, state-of-the-art 3T MR system. The new MR system was installed in Mayo's Body MRI Advanced Development Unit in Rochester, Minn.
  
  
• In October, InNexus Biotechnology, a publicly held company, moved into space in the Mayo Clinic Collaborative Research Building on the Mayo Clinic campus in Arizona. This first-of-its- kind facility joins multiple strategic partners under one roof to focus on developing and supporting medical research and education.
  
  
• A study led by Mayo Clinic demonstrated that mild cognitive impairment, a memory disorder considered a strong early predictor of Alzheimer's disease, not only results in behavioral symptoms but also structural changes that can be identified in the brain. The study is one of the first autopsy studies of mild cognitive impairment.
  
  
• Mayo Clinic researchers discovered that a common imaging technique when combined with genetic testing nearly doubles the effectiveness in detecting the presence of a potentially deadly, inherited heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Currently the genetic test correctly detects HCM only 40 percent of the time. But coupled with echocardiography imaging, the detection power of the test nearly doubles.
  
  
• Mayo Clinic broke ground for a new building in Rochester, Minn. that will house advanced imaging research. Mayo received a gift of $7 million from The Opus Group, a commercial real estate development and management company, to support construction of the facility. Research in the Mayo Clinic Opus Imaging Research Building will focus on discovery and development of new medical imaging technologies and integration of innovative imaging techniques into patient care.
  
  
• Mayo Clinic researchers took a step in targeting childhood obesity with the anti-obesity concept-project called The Classroom of the Future. Researchers monitored children's activity levels in a 'normal' classroom setting and then compared it to activity in the "classroom of the future," where movement is integrated into the children's entire learning experience.
  
  
• Mayo Clinic researchers found that cognitively normal, elderly people who developed depression were at increased risk of developing mild cognitive impairment. When viewed as a spectrum of cognitive functioning, mild cognitive impairment falls between normal brain aging and dementing illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease.