Innovating advances for urological conditions
With state-of-the-art lab space and leading physician-researchers, our department is committed to improving outcomes for bladder cancer, prostate cancer, kidney cancer and other urological conditions.
Overview
The Department of Urology-Research at Mayo Clinic has a strong legacy of urologic disease research, with a focus on developing innovative approaches to treatment that improve patient outcomes and quality of life.
Our department has investigators dedicated to full-time laboratory-based research and other faculty members who conduct research alongside their clinical responsibilities, encompassing a wide range of urological diseases and conditions. Our faculty members work collaboratively with each other and with investigators in other departments at Mayo Clinic on urology-related basic, translational and clinical studies. We conduct numerous clinical trials and provide mentorship and training for fellows through the Urologic Oncology Fellowship.
Basic and translational research
Our basic research unit includes several research laboratories, which together total more than 5,000 square feet of lab space. The labs are well equipped to conduct state-of-the-art molecular and cellular biology studies, develop and maintain stable cell lines and primary cultures, perform biochemical and immunochemical studies, and conduct molecular analysis of clinical specimens.
Our translational research efforts are a bridge between the laboratory and clinical research activities. Moving a promising new treatment into the clinical setting benefits patients and gives investigators new insights into how a therapy might be fine-tuned in the laboratory.
Most basic and translational urologic research at Mayo Clinic focuses on developing, advancing and subsequently offering cutting-edge therapies and treatment paradigms for patients with urologic cancer, including investigating novel anti-cancer agents and technologies to be used as complements to conventional surgical therapy.
Clinical research
Clinical research by our Department of Urology-Research physicians is aimed at developing innovative therapies that enable patients to receive the most advanced treatments available for urologic cancers and other urologic diseases. Our clinical research, including research on minimally invasive procedures, contributes to our low complication rates and improved patient outcomes.
Our clinical trials — closely monitored and regulated studies in which the efficacy and safety of new drugs and treatments are evaluated — are designed in the true spirit of translational research, as laboratory discoveries are applied to patients and observations from the clinic are explored in the lab. We are leaders in recruiting participants for studies on bladder cancer, prostate cancer and kidney cancer.