Cancer
November 22, 2021
Gather your family health history this Thanksgiving; it could save your life
By Susan Murphy 
Thanksgiving Day marks Family Health History Day, an annual national public health campaign to encourage people to better understand what health characteristics run in their families. Has your mother, sister or grandmother had breast or ovarian cancer? Has your father had prostate cancer? Is there a history of colon cancer, diabetes or high cholesterol in your family? If so, you also could be at risk. John Presutti, D.O., a Mayo Clinic family medicine physician, says don’t just talk about your family health history. Act on it. It could save your life.
November 17, 2021
By Susan Murphy
In the study, which was published in Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology, nearly 1 in 6 people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer were found to have an inherited cancer-related gene mutation that likely predisposed them to the disease. The most common genetic mutation was in the BRCA2 gene, known as a “breast cancer gene.”
October 18, 2021
By Susan Murphy
When Michelle Ewy, 38, received an opportunity at Mayo Clinic to get her DNA tested for genetic mutations related to breast and ovarian cancers, and other cancers and diseases, she jumped at the chance. “I wasn’t thinking much of what the outcome would be because there has not been a prevalence of breast or ovarian […]
Tags: BRCA2, breast cancer, Dr. Konstantinos Lazaridis, Genetic Counseling, Genetic Testing, ovarian cancer, Teresa Kruisselbrink, whole exome sequencing
August 30, 2021
By Susan Murphy
Moritz Binder M.D., a physician-scientist in Mayo Clinic’s divisions of Hematology and Oncology, and Satsuki Yamada, M.D., Ph.D., a physician-scientist in the division of Cardiovascular Diseases, are recipients of the 2021 Gerstner Family Career Development Awards. The competitive awards are presented annually by Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine to researchers conducting innovative investigations to […]
August 24, 2021
A new understanding of the inner workings of CAR-T cell therapy
Mayo Clinic researchers have biomanufactured chimeric antigen receptor-T cell therapy (CAR-T cell therapy) in a new way to track the cells’ cancer fighting journey and predict toxic side effects. This Mayo Clinic breakthrough, published in Cancer Immunology Research, also could unravel the mystery of how to unleash CAR-T cell therapy to destroy solid tumors. “This […]
June 15, 2021
New Mayo study validates melanoma test to help some patients avoid surgical biopsy
By Susan Murphy
More than 100,00 people in the U.S. are expected to be diagnosed with melanoma this year — double the number of cases compared to 30 years ago, according to the American Academy of Dermatology Association. “Melanoma accounts for only about 2% of skin cancers, but it causes a majority of skin cancer deaths,” says Alexander […]
Tags: #Dr. Alexander Meves, Melanoma
May 25, 2021
Gene fusion discovery in ultrarare tumor highlights potential therapeutic target
By Susan Murphy
A scientific investigation led by a team of researchers from Mayo Clinic’s Center for Individualized Medicine reveals that an ultrarare cancer called epithelioid trophoblastic tumor (ETT), which can develop in the uterus after conception, recurrently exhibits an abnormal fusion of two genes. This fusion creates an unusual protein that triggers aggressive cell growth — the […]
Tags: #Gavin Oliver, Dr. Eric Klee
May 4, 2021
Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine refreshes website
The Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine website was recently updated to reflect Mayo Clinic’s continued focus on integrating precision medicine into the practice to improve patient care. In the last decade, Mayo Clinic researchers, physicians, and staff in the Center have been collaborating closely in a comprehensive team science approach to push the boundaries […]
Tags: mayo clinic, Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine
April 26, 2021
Researchers develop new technique to study ‘microcancers’ and screen cancer-fighting drugs
By Susan Murphy
By University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Three-dimensional microscale hanging drop arrays are useful in drug discovery, regenerative medicine, stem cell research, and biotechnology. A team from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Grainger College of Engineering and Mayo Clinic have developed a new technique for creating “microcancer” cell cultures. It allows researchers to form hundreds of microcancers […]
April 22, 2021
Meet 5 Mayo scientists researching ‘beyond DNA’ to advance personalized medicine
By Susan Murphy
As the nation marks National DNA Day on Sunday, April 25 — a day that commemorates the discovery of DNA’s double helix in 1953 and the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 — Mayo Clinic physicians and researchers will continue to closely collaborate to push the boundaries of precision medicine in the areas […]