Answers from the Lab

Speaker 1: (01:20)  Today we want to talk about the MDM2 gene amplification assay. Can you give us a little bit of an overview of that test?    Speaker 1: (02:16)  Is there a certain subset of patients that should have this testing, and when should it be performed on those patients?   Speaker 1: (02:50)  So for those patients then, are there any other alternative test options that are available fo...

Full Show Notes: Speaker 1: (00:49) Can you share a little bit about yourself and how your role has changed since COVID-19 started?   Speaker 1: (01:52)  What kind of shortages have you seen in our laboratories? And maybe you could tell us a little bit about some innovative solutions your team's been working on to combat those shortages.   Speaker 1: (04:41)  Have you seen shortages in other areas...

William Morice, II, M.D., Ph. D., chair of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic and president of Mayo Clinic Laboratories, joins the "Answers From the Lab" podcast for his weekly leadership update. In this episode, Dr. Morice and Bobbi Pritt, M.D., explain the difference between collecting a specimen sample at home to be used for COVID-19 testing versus performing a C...

Resources: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25502528/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3538476/

William Morice, II, M.D., Ph. D., Chair of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic and President of Mayo Clinic Laboratories, joins the Answers from the Lab podcast for his weekly leadership update. On this episode, Dr. Morice joins Dr. Bobbi Pritt to discuss the different forms of masking that are available and which type you should consider based on your state guidelin...

Timestamps Dr. Bobbi Pritt: (00:45)  Can you share a little bit about yourself and how your role has changed since COVID-19?   Dr. Bobbi Pritt: (02:10)  Has there been any additional quality management practices that have been put into place since the start of COVID-19?   Dr. Bobbi Pritt: (04:13)  Do you feel like these practices will continue to be followed going forward? Or do you think that som...

William Morice, II, M.D., Ph. D., chair of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic and president of Mayo Clinic Laboratories, joins the Answers from the Lab podcast for his weekly leadership update. On this episode, Dr. Morice discusses how we can approach the upcoming flu season, and Bobbi Pritt, M.D., shares the differences between screening and surveillance approaches...

William Morice, II, M.D., Ph. D., Chair of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic and President of Mayo Clinic Laboratories, joins the Answers from the Lab podcast for his weekly leadership update. On this episode, Dr. Morice discusses how we can prepare for the upcoming influenza season and take necessary precautions as we approach Labor Day weekend.

Resources: https://news.mayocliniclabs.com/covid19/  

William Morice, II, M.D., Ph. D., Chair of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic and President of Mayo Clinic Laboratories, joins the Answers from the Lab podcast for his weekly leadership update. On this episode, Dr. Morice discusses how leadership practices have shifted since the onset of COVID-19, the creation of our command center, and how the team has made signifi...

Resources: COVID-19 Resource Center

Timestamps: Speaker 1: (01:03)  Do you want to tell us a little bit for the listeners, what herd immunity is?  Speaker 1: (02:49)  With your immunology background, if you have any thoughts on what would be the ideal way in your mind? Speaker 1: (06:21)  So it does show the power of the immune response, but it is that question of, is it going to be antibodies? Is it going to be T cells? Is it going...

Timestamps: Speaker 2: (01:12)  Where does it all start?  Speaker 2: (04:32)  How many followers have you?  Speaker 2: (05:59)  So what would your advice be to someone who might listen to this and want to follow in your footsteps?  Speaker 2: (10:41)  So you've been doing this now for a long time, 600 cases on your blog, do you have a few favorites?  Resources: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasite B...

01:21  Could you give us the updates on what you see the state of testing to be today?  01:53  What are some of the new things on the horizon? You know, we're hearing about pooling and antigen testing.  08:34  What are your thoughts on that? 

Timestamps: Speaker 1: (01:14)  Can you tell our listeners about the state of testing today?  Speaker 1: (05:14)  You've been posting on Twitter, some really interesting statistics, do you want to share some of those? Speaker 1: (09:46)  Do you have designer masks, Bill, and do you match your outfit for the day? Resources: https://news.mayocliniclabs.com/covid19/

00:44  So can you tell me a little bit about what your normal role was at Mayo Clinic before COVID happened? Then how has that changed as the COVID pandemic started and progressed?  02:06  So, what are some of the current challenges facing the supply chain and what have been some of Mayo Clinic’s strategies to successfully navigate through these evolving supply chain shortages and demands for supp...

(01:01)  Can you tell us how lab testing capacity is in general at Mayo Clinic and across the United States?  (03:34)  We’re trying to balance how we test for the routine stuff, in addition to meeting COVID demands?  (04:40)  How should we be using testing to manage this COVID-19 outbreak?  (06:36)  So the partnership you mentioned, do you want to tell us a little bit more about that? Because it w...

Timestamps: Speaker 1: (01:00) Perhaps you could start off by just telling us how is this test different than the other antibody tests? What is a neutralizing antibody to begin with?  Speaker 1: (02:40)  Can you tell us about the new neutralizing antibody test then and how it came about?  Speaker 1: (03:39)  What did you do specifically to make it a clinical test?  Speaker 1: (04:50)  How many tes...

01:16 What are you thinking when you look to the future for laboratory testing for COVID-19?  03:05 What are your thoughts on that? What would be some ways that we could predict who would be at risk for severe disease and really might go downhill quickly?  04:47 So should we be testing for T-cells? Are there any T-cell marker tests in the future?  05:41 Can you tell us a little bit about that from...

Timestamps: Speaker 1: (00:39) So let's start by talking about the new neutralizing antibody test. Can you tell us a little bit about this test and how it came about?  Speaker 1: (04:55)  So we are screening all of the employees throughout the Mayo Clinic enterprise. Can you tell us about this and the scope and the purpose behind this program?  Speaker 1: (07:26)  So a lot of things to consider, I...

Full Show Notes (Timestamps) Speaker 1: (00:56)  So there continues to be a lot of interest in antibody testing for COVID-19. Can you refresh our memories on what antibody testing is?  Speaker 1: (02:12)  Now that we are actually six months into this outbreak, what is our understanding about using serologic testing? Will it be the magic bullet that will allow us to go back to work? Speaker 1: (05:...

Full Show Notes (Timestamps) Speaker 1: (00:50)  So this is now our six months in a world with COVID-19, which is just amazing. What is new in terms of testing at Mayo Clinic Laboratories for COVID-19?  Speaker 1: (02:23)  It has the potential to really help a lot of patients, if you can show that giving convalescent plasma is going to be helpful to our patients struggling with COVID-19.  Speaker...

01:23  How do you envision that we could use these two types of tests to help restart our economy?  07:04 When you test one day, what does that mean? 08:59 What can the laboratory do to help guide how our tests are used for clinical decision making public policy and even help guide how future tests are created so that they can best serve our patients?  Resources: https://news.mayocliniclabs.com/co...

00:53  So you were the division chair of clinical microbiology at the time that the COVID-19 pandemic began. How did COVID-19 affect you in that?  05:49  So how did COVID-19 impact this society that we call ASM? 10:32  Our department chair, Dr. Bill Morice, asked you to lead a COVID-19 biospecimens group for Mayo Clinic. What does this group do? 

01:46  So Dr. Morice, how have you seen the laboratory response evolve along with the pandemic?  04:01  Do you feel that Mayo Clinic is in a unique position to contribute to testing and the dialogue around testing given that we have our local practice as well as our international reference laboratory practice?