Mayo Alumni Magazine 2002 Spring - MC4409-0402 - Mayo Clinic

Members of the
microbiology team that
helped develop the rapid
anthrax detection test
are, from left to right,
front, Emily Vetter,
Franklin Cockerill,
M.D., Lynne Sloan and
Tom Smith, Ph.D.
Second row, Mark Espy,
Jon Rosenblatt, M.D.,
Lester Wold, M.D.,
and Jim Uhl.
procedure that improves patient care.
Their story also illustrates how that
process can be dramatically altered by
events far beyond their laboratories
— and far beyond their control.
Turning weeks into minutes
Since 1997 the microbiology team
had been interested in developing
ways to shorten the turnaround time
for microbiology tests. Culture tests
involve isolating the microorganisms,
growing them on culture, and
identifying them by the way their
colonies grow on culture plates.
Culture times vary and can be as long
as three weeks.
“If you can identify that a person
has tuberculosis today instead of
three weeks from now you can begin
the right treatment immediately,”
explains Franklin Cockerill, M.D.,
chair of the Division of Microbiology
and the microbiologist who led the
development team. “And you can
isolate the patient and stop the spread
of disease.”
Such advantages piqued the team’s
interest in applying and improving
polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
testing to decrease the turnaround
time of many diagnostic tests.
PCR-based testing is a three-step
process that was developed over the
past two decades. First, DNA is
extracted from the microorganisms
in the sample.
Spring 2002 Mayo Alumni 3