Mayo Clinic's Individualizing Medicine Conference to be held from Oct. 1-3

Mayo Clinic's Individualizing Medicine Conference, scheduled for Oct. 1-3, will draw experts from around the world to discuss the use of genomics in patient care. Physicians and researchers in this rapidly growing field are building a new type of medicine based on the genomic and molecular interactions that make each patient unique. At Mayo Clinic, the Center for Individualized Medicine is making these discoveries and building a clinical practice that delivers genomic medicine as part of routine care.

Conference sessions will be accessible to journalists through the News Network. Media may register for the site at http://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/register/.

This inaugural conference, Individualizing Medicine 2012, will be held at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester. Presentations will range from cutting-edge diagnostics and experimental cancer treatments to the most ethical and respectful ways to manage patient genomic information. An introduction to individualized medicine will be presented for those unfamiliar with the field.

"The technologies of genome sequencing have made tremendous strides over the past few years. The time needed to sequence and interpret whole genomes is no longer the seemingly insurmountable barrier it once was due to the use of these tools in the everyday care of our patients," says Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., director of Mayo Clinic's Center for Individualized Medicine, which is holding the event.

"Right now, we are building genomics technologies into our laboratories and electronic medical records," Dr. Farrugia says. "This conference will be a place for both doctors and scientists to develop real-world strategies for incorporating genomics into the clinical practice."