Cancer cooperative groups and collaborations

Researchers in Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center collaborate with scientists and clinicians in other organizations through a range of cancer cooperative groups and other National Cancer Institute (NCI) programs to help advance cancer research. These collaborations offer a powerful approach that enables the Cancer Center to drive innovation, broaden our reach, expand access to clinical trials, and accelerate improvements in care and treatment.

Here's a look at some of our cancer research collaborative efforts.

Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center is a lead academic participating site in the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN), an NCI cooperative group program. Funding for these participating sites is awarded based on a site's ability to enroll high numbers of participants in NCTN trials and its scientific leadership in the design and conduct of clinical trials.

The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology is one of five U.S. network groups that make up the NCTN. Mayo Clinic oncologist Evanthia Galanis, M.D., is group chair and principal investigator for the alliance. Mayo Clinic statistician Sumithra J. Mandrekar, Ph.D., is group statistician and principal investigator for the alliance's Statistics and Data Management Center, which is primarily located at Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Rochester, Minnesota.

Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center also conducts clinical trials as part of the MW Cancer Prevention Clinical Trials Network, a lead academic organization funded by the NCI's Cancer Prevention Clinical Trials Network (CP-CTNet). CP-CTNet conducts early-phase clinical trials to assess the safety, tolerability and prevention potential of new drugs and interventions.

To evaluate innovative cancer therapies using a team-based approach, the NCI created the Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN). As ETCTN participating sites, Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center's three geographic locations have the flexibility to expand phase 1 clinical studies quickly.

The NCI's Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) is a consortium of investigators at academic institutions and in the private sector working collaboratively to bring biomarkers and imaging methods to clinical use. As an EDRN associate site, Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center is helping discover, develop and validate biomarkers and imaging methods to detect early-stage cancer, assess cancer risk, and translate these biomarkers and imaging methods into clinical tests.

The NCI formed the NCI Cohort Consortium to address the need for collaborations to pool the large quantity of data and biospecimens necessary to conduct a wide range of cancer studies. The Mayo Clinic Biobank, a collection of biospecimens and health information donated by Mayo Clinic patients, is a member of the NCI Cohort Consortium. The Mayo Clinic Biobank is funded by the Center for Individualized Medicine and led by Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center faculty members.

The NCI's Pancreatic Cancer Detection Consortium (PCDC) develops and tests new molecular and imaging biomarkers to detect early-stage pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and its precursor lesions. These biomarkers are used to identify people who are at high risk of developing PDAC and are candidates for early intervention. Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center participates in the PCDC with a grant for the Management and Data Coordination Unit for PCDC and a grant for the Mayo Clinic Prospective Resource for Biomarker Validation and Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer.

Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center also serves as the data, evaluation and coordinating center for Connecting Underrepresented Populations to Clinical Trials (CUSP2CT). This NCI initiative is implementing and evaluating multilevel and culturally tailored outreach and education interventions with the primary goal of increasing referral and accrual of people in underrepresented minority populations.

CUSP2CT is a program of the NCI's Center for Cancer Health Equity (CCHE). CCHE strategically enhances the integration and dissemination of diversity training, women's health, and sexual and gender minority efforts across the NCI, the scientific community and underserved communities experiencing disparities.

Cheryl L. Willman, M.D., the Stephen and Barbara Slaggie Executive Director of Mayo Clinic Cancer Programs and Director of Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, is a member of the NCI's CRCHD Cancer Equity Leaders (CEL). CEL is a diverse team of premier cancer research leaders who are working to reimagine and transform the future of cancer health equity.

Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center and Columbia University received NCI funding in 2023 to develop the Mathematical Oncology Systems Analysis Imaging Center (MOSAIC). MOSAIC combines biopsies collected at different regions of a tumor with features on MRIs. MOSAIC researchers rely on these patterns to build mathematical and machine learning models, allowing MRI to predict tumor biology in regions that were not biopsied. MOSAIC's models use MRI to track aspects of tumor heterogeneity previously unattainable during the course of care.

The NCI awarded Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center funding in 2023 to establish a Cancer Adoptive Cellular Therapy (Can-ACT) Network Coordinating Center at Mayo Clinic. The Can-ACT Network is designed to accelerate the development and testing of adoptive cell therapy for solid tumors in adults and children. The coordinating center acts as the hub for scientific and organizational leadership of the Can-ACT Network, providing coordinated scientific and administrative support to the network and its members.