November 10, 2023
Pass the turkey — and your family health insights — this Thanksgiving
By Susan Murphy
Thanksgiving Day is also Family Health History Day, an annual national campaign to promote awareness of hereditary health traits in families. Has your grandmother, mother, aunt or sister had breast or ovarian cancer? Has your grandfather, father or uncle had prostate, breast or pancreatic cancer? Is there a history in your family of colon cancer, diabetes […]
Tags: center for individualized medicine, Genetics, medical research
September 28, 2023
New gene markers detect Lynch syndrome-associated colorectal cancer, Mayo Clinic study
By Susan Murphy
By Kelley Luckstein Researchers from Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center and Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine have discovered new genetic markers to identify Lynch syndrome-associated colorectal cancer with high accuracy. Studies are underway to determine if these genetic markers are in stool samples and, if so, how this could lead to a non-invasive screening option for patients with Lynch […]
Tags: center for individualized medicine, Dr. Niloy "Jewel" Samadder
April 13, 2023
Targeted immunotherapy helps Florida woman beat Lynch syndrome-driven colon cancer
By Susan Murphy
By Nicole Brudos Ferrara Cancer has always been a part of 44-year-old Katie Cunningham’s life. “We have an extensive family history of colon cancer on my dad’s side. We have a document going back to the 1800s,” says Katie. Katie and her family members have Lynch syndrome, an inherited condition that increases the risk of colon […]
Tags: center for individualized medicine, gene sequencing, personalized medicine
September 7, 2022
What is the benefit of visiting a genetic counselor?
By Susan Murphy
By Cynthia Weiss DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My grandmother and mother, as well as an aunt and a cousin, have had breast cancer. Another cousin was diagnosed with colon cancer recently. It has been suggested that I undergo genetic counseling to determine my cancer risk. As a young man, is genetic testing necessary for me? What benefit […]
Tags: center for individualized medicine, DNA Testing, gene sequencing, Genetics, genomic medicine, individualized medicine
March 31, 2022
Mayo Clinic patient grateful after genetic test leads to unexpected, early detection of colon cancer
By Susan Murphy
Alejandro Mirazo, 56, never imagined his genetic test results would reveal a hereditary link to cancer, or that his findings would potentially save his life. He had participated in a preemptive DNA research sequencing study for Mayo Clinic’s Center for Individualized Medicine in fall 2021 solely to contribute to medical research. As a Mexican American, he also wanted to add diversity to Mayo Clinic’s genomic dataset.
Tags: center for individualized medicine, DNA Testing, gene sequencing, Genetics, genomic medicine, medical research, personalized medicine
March 24, 2022
What you should know about genetics, colorectal cancer
By Susan Murphy
By Nicole Brudos Ferrara Colorectal cancer begins when healthy cells in the colon or rectum develop mutations, or changes, in their DNA. These damaged cells then become cancerous, grow and divide uncontrollably, and form a tumor. Genetic factors play a role in this process. Some gene mutations passed through generations of your family can increase […]
Tags: center for individualized medicine, colon cancer, DNA Testing, Dr. Niloy "Jewel" Samadder, gene sequencing, Genetics, genomic medicine, hereditary colon cancer
December 24, 2020
2020 Mayo Clinic Precision Medicine Advances
By Susan Murphy
This year, Mayo Clinic’s Center for Individualized Medicine was at the forefront of COVID-19 research, working to unravel the complexities of the virus in order to discover life-saving treatments and prevention — from testing to building a pandemic response biobank to identifying COVID-19 strains within individual patients. But even in the midst of the pandemic, […]
Tags: #Artificial Intelligence, Cancer Research, Genetics, genomics, individualized medicine, multi-omics, Research
August 12, 2020
Could population genetic screening improve public health?
Hereditary BRCA-related breast and ovarian cancer, Lynch syndrome and familial hypercholesterolemia are estimated to be relatively prevalent in the general population but poorly found using traditional risk screening. In a typical medical practice, genetic testing for these conditions is based on personal or family history, ethnic background or other demographic characteristics, that may not always […]
Tags: #Familial hypercholesterolemia, breast cancer, Dr. Matthew Ferber, lynch syndrome, mayo clinic, Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine, ovarian cancer, population health genomics, Research