Center for Biomedical Discovery

Overview

Discovery, or laboratory, research provides the foundation for studies that help improve medical care.

The Mayo Clinic Center for Biomedical Discovery investigates the origin of disease and how cellular mistakes lead to illness. For example, one group funded by the Center is focused on melanoma ─ developing completely new techniques to listen in on cellular conversations to learn how melanoma spreads.

By focusing on biological processes like aging, metabolism, and immunity, researchers in the Center learn about complex diseases such as cancer, fibrosis and diabetes. This knowledge fuels development of breakthrough therapies and critical advances in patient care.

The Center is organized into three scientific research platforms that, together, address the molecular aspects of diseases that strike virtually every organ in the body:

• Immunity and Fibrosis examines the immune system’s role in disease and the cellular pathways/mechanisms driving organ fibrosis.
• Cancer and Cell Aging explores the molecular basis for diseases of aging and cancer.
• Metabolism and Molecular Nutrition investigates metabolic disturbance, and diseases such as obesity.

The Center for Biomedical Discovery is an umbrella encompassing Mayo Clinic discovery research activities, overseeing a wide portfolio of research aimed at the most complex and serious medical challenges. By funding the discovery science questions that remain unanswered, the Center helps find answers that patients need.