Mayo Clinic 2010 Annual Report
ResearchFinding answers, improving lives
Translating discoveries into clinical practice
Research is essential to advancing patient care and improving lives. As Mayo Clinic physicians and allied health care professionals treat patients every day in hospitals and exam rooms, they also strive to transform the practice of medicine through research. In every case, the goal of Mayo Clinic's research is single-minded — translate discoveries into therapies that are applied in clinical practice.
Examples of Mayo Clinic research in any given year are impressive and extensive. One example is the landmark work of Mayo Clinic researchers Andre Terzic, M.D., Ph.D., and Atta Behfar, M.D., Ph.D., which shows that adult human stem cells can be programmed to effectively heal, repair and regenerate damaged heart tissue.
Another example is a promising new method of detecting breast cancers called Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI). In a recent study, when high-risk women with dense breasts were screened for the first time using MBI, the procedure detected three times as many cancers in the group as compared to mammography.
Yet another is a simple stool test, developed in part by Mayo Clinic physician David Ahlquist, M.D., which could help in the detection and prevention of colon cancer.
Other examples of 2010 Mayo research include the following:
- A new approach for sequencing RNA to study cancer tumors.
- A way to significantly reduce hospital-acquired C. difficile infection.
- A connection between GPC5 gene variant and lung cancer.
- New information about tissue damage due to multiple sclerosis.
- A new class of drugs for treating diabetes.
- Gene signatures that help explain the biology of clear cell renal cell carcinoma.