Mayo Clinic Bioservices' robotically-controlled freezer stores 3.5 million biobank samples.

How does dietary sodium affect the stress-related change in heart rate?

That is the question that John Eisenach, M.D., an anesthesiologist for Kaiser Permanente, asked as he started researching the effects of certain genetic alterations and how these changes influence heart and blood vessel function under controlled levels of sodium in the diet.  He needed participants with a specific genotype for this project.  His study team worked three years to recruit volunteers and after that time, had only identified 35 participants.

Out of options, Dr. Eisenach turned to the Mayo Clinic Biobank for help. An anesthesiologist for Mayo Clinic until 2014, he knew about the clinic’s commitment to building a large, searchable biorepository.

In less than one year, the Mayo Clinic Biobank successfully recruited 36 participants with the specific genotype needed for his study.  These participants enabled Dr. Eisenach to complete the study in less time, and confirm that the low sodium diet yielded a lower heart rate response to stress.  These results are now affecting patient care sooner, rather than later.

The selected participants, because of their specific genotype, will also be offered an opportunity to participate in further research studies with Dr. Eisenach’s group to help determine the role the genotype they have plays in cardiovascular disease.  This benefits everyone:  the researchers have the unique participants they need for the study,  patients are provided with enhanced care sooner based on the findings, and the participants gain satisfaction knowing that they are contributing to the health care for others.

Mayo Clinic and the Center for Individualized Medicine have made a significant commitment to building a world-class, scalable biorepository infrastructure to assist researchers like Dr. Eisenach in their goal to provide better, faster patient care. All of these services and resources from the Biorepositories Program are now available to external investigators through Mayo Clinic Bioservices.

The Bioservices program can assist researchers in advancing their scientific objectives by providing access to the Biobank and offering a full suite of scientific services. Mayo Clinic seeks to advance research and to improve health for all people in collaboration with scientists in both industry and academia. Making the Bioservices available to external investigators is one way to achieve better health care for all patients.

The Mayo Clinic Biobank now includes the DNA of over 50,000 volunteers. This database of information can help researchers and investigators accelerate their discoveries. Researchers often need access to disease-specific samples, but face a challenge finding controls with the quality they require. The Mayo Clinic Biobank exists to address this need.

Visit the new website to learn about the services available for researchers. The Mayo Clinic Biobank and the Cancer Serum Biobank aids research in biomarker discovery, validation, and more. In addition, Mayo Clinic Bioservices offers wide range of pre-analytical laboratory services with access to a full range of post-analytical testing capability, both research-based and CLIA-based.

To learn more about solutions for research from Mayo Clinic Bioservices, contact them at (855) 298-0598 or email mayoclinicbioservices@mayo.edu.

Tags: Biobank, biomarkers, Biorepositories, center for individualized medicine, genomic medicine, Precision Medicine, Uncategorized