The Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, which spans Mayo Clinic's Arizona, Florida and Minnesota locations, has 10 distinct research programs funded by the National Cancer Institute that are centered on broad areas such as immunology and gene therapy, or specific tumor types such as brain and gastrointestinal. Each research topic is treated with a multidisciplinary approach that ties together science, clinical relevance and prevention — a depth and breadth that lends itself to discovery and patient application.
Researchers with Mayo Clinic's Center for Individualized Medicine are working to develop and test a new strategy to improve cancer care. In one initiative, scientists take a sample from a patient's tumor, subject it to a number of high-tech analyses, and convene a multidisciplinary team to identify which existing therapies are most likely to work in each case. Then their suggestions are tested in the laboratory using miniature 3D cultures of the patient's original tumor. If a cancer treatment is found to be effective there, then it could be used to help the individual.
"Not only is this a testament to what's possible for individualized medicine, it's a way for cancer researchers to work closely with clinicians to help patients," says Dr. Anastasiadis.
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