Advanced Clinical Trials and Translational Sciences Research Program

Overview

Research conducted in the Advanced Clinical Trials and Translational Sciences Research Program within Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center advances novel therapies into clinical practice and facilitates translational science discoveries. This work enables program investigators to translate discoveries into diagnostic, therapeutic and monitoring interventions and disease-specific clinical trials.

The program's goals are to drive transformative, practice-changing translational and clinical cancer research across the oncology spectrum and to propel scientific discovery through bidirectional translation. Program investigators embrace a team science approach and collaborate with the Cancer Center's five other research programs to achieve these goals.

Work in the program spans a broad spectrum of cancer types. This includes gastrointestinal cancers, hematologic malignancies, neuro-oncology, breast and gynecologic cancers, genitourinary cancers, lung cancer, head and neck cancer, pediatric cancer, and rare cancers such as endocrine cancer, melanoma and sarcoma.

Research aims

The Advanced Clinical Trials and Translational Sciences Research Program has three research aims:

Aim 1: Improve oncological outcomes via practice-changing clinical trials. The purpose of this aim is to develop and execute advanced-stage therapeutic clinical trials across the Cancer Center to advance novel therapeutic strategies toward regulatory approval and redefine established cancer treatment paradigms.

Aim 2: Drive paradigm-shifting cancer care discoveries via bidirectional translational science. Research in this aim focuses on developing predictive biomarkers that enable precision medicine, including the discovery and validation of de novo predictors of response and management strategies.

Aim 3: Integrate innovative delivery paradigms and next-generation therapeutic strategies in advanced clinical trials. With a primary goal of enhancing access to cutting-edge cancer care for everyone within the Cancer Center's catchment areas, program investigators are creating decentralized clinical trial strategies that bring cancer care closer to people's homes and local communities.

Program leadership

Tanios S. Bekaii-Saab, M.D.
Dr. Bekaii-Saab is a medical oncologist at Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Phoenix, Arizona, and a professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. He is chair of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Arizona and the David F. and Margaret T. Grohne Professor of Novel Therapeutics for Cancer Research I. Dr. Bekaii-Saab conducts clinical and translational research to develop anticancer therapeutics for people with gastrointestinal cancers, with a particular focus on genetic and epigenetic drivers and the immune microenvironment.

Leif Bergsagel, M.D.
Dr. Bergsagel is a hematologist at Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Phoenix, Arizona, and a professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. He is the David F. and Margaret T. Grohne Professor of Novel Therapeutics for Cancer Research II. Dr. Bergsagel's research focuses on understanding the molecular events that lead to monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and its progression to multiple myeloma.

Amy C. Degnim, M.D.
Dr. Degnim is a breast surgical oncologist at Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Rochester, Minnesota, and a professor of surgery at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. Dr. Degnim is the Joe M. and Ruth Roberts Professor of Surgery. Her research focuses on improving the ability to predict breast cancer risk by studying breast tissue for very early signs of premalignant change. Dr. Degnim also studies the immune microenvironment in premalignant breast tissue and novel approaches for breast cancer prevention.

Jann N. Sarkaria, M.D.
Dr. Sarkaria is a radiation oncologist at Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Rochester, Minnesota, and a professor of radiation oncology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. He is the William H. Donner Professor. Dr. Sarkaria develops novel therapeutic strategies for people with glioblastoma and brain metastases. His research focuses on drug penetration across the blood-brain barrier and translational use of patient-derived xenograft models.