The Pursuit of Precision: The Science Advancing In

What if we could replace diseased or damaged organs and other body parts with new lab-created versions? How might transplanting tissue from other species help the critical shortage of human transplant organs? Tune in to listen to two noted experts in regenerative therapeutics and xenotransplantation (transplanting organs between members of different species). Learn more from these experts as they discuss innovations, future opportunities, challenges, ethical and legal issues, and the public’s perception of these new therapies. Guests are: Julie Allickson, Ph.D., the Michael S. and Mary Sue Shannon Family Director for Regenerative Medicine and the Otto Bremer Trust Director of Biomanufacturing and Product Development in the Mayo Clinic Center for Regenerative Biotherapeutics Robert Montgomery, M.D., Ph.D., chair Department of Surgery and director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute

Wearable technology has come a long way from being a novelty. These wearables are now being used to help monitor patients to forestall problems. They can help people take a more active role in their health. Plus, the trove of data they collect can help medical researchers. Explore how wearables and digital health individualize medicine in this episode of Mayo Clinic's "The Pursuit of Precision: The Science Advancing Individualized Medicine" podcast. Guests are: Michael Maniaci, M.D., associate professor of medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science Ryan McGinnis, Ph.D., assistant professor and assistant director, The University of Vermont, College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

Wearable technologies are becoming more and more popular. Add to the mix digital health apps and there's a trove of data being translated into meaningful health information for users, physicians and researchers. Explore the emergence of these digital tools in individualized medicine in this episode of Mayo Clinic's "The Pursuit of Precision: The Science Advancing Individualized Medicine" podcast.   Guests are:   Iftikhar Kullo, M.D., a Mayo Clinic cardiologist   Yvonne Bombard, Ph.D., director genomics health services research program at St. Michael's Hospital Unity Health in Toronto 

Organoids are like mini organs giving researchers new insights into human development and disease and could revolutionize fields like drug discovery. Researchers can develop a wide variety of organoids from the liver to the brain. Hear about the potential and limitations of using human organoids to bridge the gap between human and animal research. Guests are: Tomas Kozicz, M.D., Ph.D. Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science    Mitchell Lazar, M.D., Ph.D., Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor in Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, Penn Medicine

Find out how 3D printing techniques play a key role in developing tissues that could be implanted into humans. Two noted experts in the field of 3D printing in medicine discuss the technological advancements, in-house printing, reimbursement challenges and applications in surgery to improve patient care.   Guests are: Jonathan Morris, M.D., Associate Professor of Radiology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science Peter Liacouras, Ph.D., Director of Services for the 3D Medical Application Center, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

Some vaccines prevent cancer, while other vaccines treat cancer. Listen to two noted experts in immunology as they discuss the differences between the two vaccines, the excitement and challenges in the precision oncology world on how to design vaccines for individual cancer types, the importance of clinical trials, and advances in immunotherapy.   Guests are: Keith Knutson, Ph.D., the Andrew A. and Mary S. Sugg Professor of Cancer Research, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science Karen Anderson, M.D., Ph.D. Professor, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University

Dive into how some of the changes in clinical trials can be applied to the stages of the cancer continuum, including cancer prevention, early detection and treatment. Listen to two noted experts discuss how individualized medicine has changed the clinical trials field. Find out more about the next generation of clinical trials researchers are using, such as basket and umbrella studies, to decrease the cost and length of trials and advance individualized medicine. Guests are: Jewel Samadder, M.D., a Mayo Clinic consultant in gastroenterology, hepatology and clinical genomics and interim associate director of Mayo Clinic’s Center for Individualized Medicine in Arizona Razelle Kurzrock, M.D., Chair of precision oncology and associate director of Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center

Mayo Clinic offers a rapid genome sequencing test for newborns where they sequence the entire genome of the baby and compare it to the parent’s DNA to identify the causes of severely ill newborn babies. Find out more about this new field of genomic medicine, ethics involved and the potential and hurdles of using genome based newborn screening as standard of care in the future. Guests are: Brendan Lanpher, M.D., a Mayo Clinic clinical geneticist and assistant professor of medical genetics Stephen Kingsmore, M.D., president and CEO of Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine

What are the challenges of dealing with viruses like COVID-19? Two infectious disease experts discuss lessons learned in the pandemic, vaccines, and novel therapeutics. Some viruses are easier to defeat with a vaccine and others are not. Learn about new technology to attack emerging viruses, the importance of funding to develop drugs and how researchers are improving vaccines to serve and care for the population. Guests are: Michael Barry, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic consultant in Infectious Diseases and Kathie Seley-Radtke, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. 

Did you know that any two human beings are 99.9% identical? Learn more from two experts in population genomics, the large-scale comparison of DNA sequences of populations and how groups are related over time. Understand the drivers of disease and how genetics affects our risks across the population. Discover how researchers are moving population genomics from the research bench to the clinical practice and its importance to individualized medicine. Podcast guests are: Matthew Ferber, Ph.D., a Clinical Molecular Geneticist and director of the Mayo Clinic GeneGuide Laboratory and Sir Rory Collins, FMedSci FRS, principal investigator and chief executive of the UK Biobank. Please note that since the recording of this podcast, Matthew Ferber, Ph.D., has taken a role outside Mayo Clinic.  

In the inaugural podcast episode host Cathy Wurzer, a broadcast journalist from Minnesota Public Radio, talks with two experts in this new frontier of medicine. The exposome looks at everything a person has been exposed to in their lifetime — chemicals, pollution, radiation, biological agents, nutrients in food and measures those exposures to identify biological pathways in the body and how they trigger disease.   Experts expand on the exposome, its history, its relation to disease development in the U.S. and Europe, and the potential to use the exposome framework to improve population health.  Panelists are:  Konstantinos Lazaridis, M.D., the Carlson and Nelson Endowed Executive Director for Mayo Clinic's Center for Individualized Medicine   Paolo Vineis, Ph.D., chair of environmental epidemiology at Imperial College London