Mayo Magazine

The History of Genomics at Mayo Clinic — Fast-forwarding to the Future

Eric D. Wieben, Ph.D.

If you take any two people and put them side by side, you may be able to identify a handful of differences between them. You might note that one person is tall while the other is short. One may have thick, blonde hair while the other is balding. One may have an olive complexion while the other is fair. It's all in the genes, as they say.

While most of us use this "face value" approach to identify one another, genomics researchers worldwide classify us according to our genetic code. Genomics researchers at Mayo Clinic are no exception, but they do have one thing other researchers don't have ... 98 years' worth of patient samples and data on which to draw.

Back to the future

"The essence of medical genomics is to combine the knowledge of the disease process with information we have on individual differences in gene structure and function as a way to prevent, diagnose, treat and possibly predict disease," according to Eric D. Wieben, Ph.D., director of the Genomics Research Center at Mayo Clinic Rochester.

"Essentially you take the information you have on patients and cross reference that with the information we can now get from analysis of the genome. Finding the meaningful correlations between these two courses of information requires significant strength in information processing. We are working hard to develop our capabilities in the analysis of these complex data sets. This area is called bioinformatics, and it's basically the ability to look for meaningful correlations in a vast set of data.

"Mayo has always been strong in understanding the disease process, and we're second to none in capturing and recording patient data," says Dr. Wieben. In fact, he says, Mayo is way ahead of the pack in the medical genomics race thanks to this wealth of patient data. "We are building on the work of visionaries like Drs. Will and Charlie Mayo and Henry Plummer who set the groundwork almost 100 years ago for our present and future success in genomics research and treatment. It's thanks to their foresight in developing a unified medical record and beginning the tradition of collecting clinical specimens that Mayo researchers today can work on new ways of treating diseases of tomorrow," says Dr. Wieben. "Our collection of well-annotated clinical samples is invaluable, and many institutions wish they had it, but this is information that you just can't buy. This exhaustive collection is the missing link for many.

"Because we have all the components it takes to succeed in the field of genomics research, I'm confident Mayo will be a leader in applying this knowledge. Now it's up to us to anticipate the collection of data that might be needed generations from now and to figure out a way to best preserve that information in a biobank that will be available for the next generation of Mayo researchers," says Dr. Wieben.

A good place to grow from

It's clear that a solid base for Mayo's genomics research efforts has been built. Now this wealth of information needs to find its way into the hands of those who'll eventually use it in the diagnosis and treatment of disease — Mayo Clinic physicians.

Thanks to a $6 million gift from the Eisenberg Foundation, physicians at Mayo are staying current with the latest advances in genomics research through continuing medical education courses, articles in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, an internal Web site developed for doctors as a point of contact for genomics information and, of course, the development of the Mayo Clinic Genomics Research Center. "We're basically building a whole new science here," says Dr. Wieben.

It's apparent that this information is being used. "Last year alone, Mayo introduced 83 new genomics-based tests and conducted approximately 775,000 such tests overall. If we can further educate our doctors on the topic of genomics, we could actually be more precise in our diagnostic process so that we are even more efficient in ordering these types of tests," says Dr. Wieben.

Dr. Wieben anticipates that the day isn't too far off when physicians can look at a person's genetic code and be able to determine at a molecular level who's at risk of disease, how aggressive that disease will be in any one person and which course of treatment will be best both in terms of treating the disease and in minimizing harmful side effects. "Ultimately we'll be able to understand how the human body works as an integrated molecular system. At Mayo, we're working to bring that day closer, for the benefit of our patients," says Dr. Wieben.