In the Center for Individualized Medicine, the Medical Genome Facility is a two-part infrastructure program led by Eric D. Wieben, Ph.D., that supports the generation, collection and interpretation of genomic and proteomic data toward a goal of creating better ways to diagnose, predict and treat disease.

A decade ago, Mayo Clinic saw the emerging potential of genomics technologies and launched the Advanced Genomics Technology Center, a collection of several core laboratories that provide comprehensive genomics-related shared services.

With the creation of the Center for Individualized Medicine, the Advanced Genomics Technology Center has become one part of the Medical Genome Facility. The Medical Genome Facility also includes an applied research component, which provides resources and expertise in support of Center for Individualized Medicine projects as they move from the laboratory into patient care applications.

Program focus areas

Genomics-related shared services. The Medical Genome Facility makes available a wide range of genomics-related services to researchers in the Center for Individualized Medicine's translational programs, the broader Mayo research community and investigators elsewhere.

Available services include Sanger DNA sequencing, genotyping, gene expression and cytogenetic analysis, biospecimens accessioning and processing, tissue and cell molecular analysis, RNA interference, and oligonucleotide synthesis. Next-generation DNA sequencing is the facility's most rapidly growing capability — five Illumina HiSeq2000 platforms and a Pacific Biosciences RS single molecule real-time sequencer are available.

Going forward, the Medical Genome Facility will stay at the forefront of genomics research by adding new services, instruments, analysis capabilities and personnel as technology advances and new patient needs are identified.

Applied research services. This component of the Medical Genome Facility, in close collaboration with the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic, interprets and applies findings from the facility's genomics-related shared services to patient care.

With input and expertise from both Mayo physicians and scientists, the applied research component of the Medical Genome Facility is uniquely able to take projects in the Center for Individualized Medicine's five translational programs through the entire translational process, from initial basic science discoveries to clinical applications.

It's expected that these applied research services will play a key role in the development of innovative, personalized tests and treatments, especially with regard to biomarkers. Outcomes already include publications, patents and new tests related to prostate cancer, T- cell lymphoma and kidney cancer, and there are many other projects under way

The Immunochemical Core is a specialized facility that provides immunochemical, chemistry and immune testing at an affordable cost to clinical and basic science researchers, develops and validates new assays, and improves current assay methodology.

Services include:
•Extensive test menu (see facility website)
•Assay development
•Automated chemistry analysis
•Immunoassay analysis
•Small molecule analysis
•Mass Spectrometry, LC-MS/MS and HRAM LC-MS, both high-flow and nano-flow
•Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), Meso Scale Discovery (MSD), Luminex, and radioimmunoassay (RIA) procedures for various analytes
•Ability to perform most commercially available assays or kits
•Expertise in quantitation of peptides, steroids, hormone, bile acids, sugars, other small molecules