Focus Areas

Brain cancer research

• Robert B. Jenkins, M.D., Ph.D., has made significant strides in understanding how molecular changes relate to clinical behavior in glioblastoma, working with faculty from other departments, including:
  • Daniel H. Lachance, M.D., in Neurology.
  • Jeanette E. Eckel Passow, Ph.D., in Quantitative Health Sciences.
  • Ian F. Parney, M.D., Ph.D., in Neurosurgery.

Breast cancer research

• The work of Vijayalakshmi (Viji) Shridhar, Ph.D., is aimed at delineating the functional basis of genes altered in breast cancer.
• Fergus J. Couch, Ph.D., focuses on the structure-function study of BRCA1 and BRCA2 and the role of BRCA2 in cell division in breast cancer development.
• Ruth Lupu, Ph.D., studies the metabolic pathways underpinning breast cancer development and response to therapy.

Lymphoma research

• Andrew L. Feldman, M.D., studies the molecular pathogenesis of T-cell lymphoma, with a goal of understanding the genetic changes leading to T-cell lymphoma and improving diagnosis of the disease.

Prostate cancer research

• Stephen N. Thibodeau, Ph.D., and Daniel J. Schaid, Ph.D., are investigating the genetic basis of familial prostate cancer and how genetic variation contributes to cancer risk in both familial and sporadic prostate cancer.
• Robert B. Jenkins, M.D., Ph.D., uses molecular genetics, cytogenetics and molecular cytogenetics to elucidate the genetic events that are precursors to prostate and brain cancer initiation, progression, and metastasis.
• George G. Klee, M.D., Ph.D., and George Vasmatzis, Ph.D., are involved in prostate cancer biomarker discovery.
• David I. Smith, Ph.D., focuses on genomic instability in cancer and uses molecular and cytogenetic tolls to analyze genes whose expression is altered in prostate cancer.

Other studies look at the genes involved with DNA damage-signaling pathways in prostate cancer. The goal of this research is to better understand the molecular basis of prostate cancer development and progression and to identify targets that might be used for risk assessment, diagnosis, monitoring and development of novel therapeutic therapies.

Renal research

• Joseph P. Grande, M.D., Ph.D., seeks to understand the basic mechanisms of fibrogenesis. Dr. Grande works with the Mayo Clinic Transplant Center to develop better prognostic markers to predict development of renal fibrosis in people receiving allografts.

Stem cell research

• Nagarajan Kannan, Ph.D., is interested in understanding and harnessing the regenerative potential of tissue-resident stem cells to address two clinical problems: breast cancer in patients who are considered high risk, and hyposalivation (xerostomia) in people who have survived head or neck cancer.
• Allan B. Dietz, Ph.D., has established multiple cell therapy platforms that offer opportunities to treat patients using investigational cell therapies such as cancer vaccine platforms — treating patients in clinical trials for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, glioblastoma and ovarian cancer — and stem cell platforms. In addition, Dr. Dietz's research team studies suppressive monocytes and comprehensive immune phenotyping to better characterize immunity and disease.

Mayo Clinic Research Core Laboratories

• Julie M. Cunningham, Ph.D., and Eric D. Wieben, Ph.D., are directors of the Genome Analysis Core within the Medical Genome Facility.
• Mine Cicek, Ph.D., directs the Biospecimen Accessioning and Processing Core within the Mayo Biorepositories Program.

These cores are infrastructure programs within the Center for Individualized Medicine.