In this episode of “Answers From the Lab,” host Bobbi Pritt, M.D., chair of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic, is joined by Vanda Lennon, M.D., Ph.D., founder of the Neuroimmunology Laboratory and now director of the Neuroimmunology Research Laboratory at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Pritt and Dr. Lennon discuss the research and testing innovations that have led to critical advancements in the field of autoimmune neurology over the last few decades.

Specific topics of discussion include:

• How the development of targeted and clinically oriented panels has improved diagnostics and healthcare for individuals with paraneoplastic syndromes.
• Why interdisciplinary collaborations with neurology, laboratory medicine and pathology, immunology, and other specialties are essential to innovations in autoimmune neurology.
• Cases of groundbreaking research and testing at Mayo Clinic Laboratories, including: 
  • Autoimmune GI dysmotility
  • Myasthenia gravis and Lambert-Eaton syndrome
  • Stiff-person spectrum disorders 
  • Autoimmune encephalopathy

Learn more about the impact of Mayo Clinic Laboratories’ diagnostic expertise in the Patient Spotlight series featuring autoimmune neurology:

• MOGAD, or myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein associated-antibody disease
• Autoimmune encephalitis
• MOG, or myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein
• Testicular cancer-associated paraneoplastic encephalitis