Centers and Programs

The Department of Neuroscience shares resources and benefits from collaborations with multiple centers, programs, initiatives and laboratories within Mayo Clinic:

  • Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Mayo Clinic's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center conducts research on, and promotes education about, healthy brain aging, mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and other related dementia disorders. Jointly based at the Mayo Clinic campuses in Jacksonville, Florida, and Rochester, Minnesota, the center provides care and services for patients with dementia disorders and their families. Ultimately, researchers in the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center hope to prevent, delay and possibly cure Alzheimer's disease and other dementia disorders.
  • APDA-supported Center for Advanced Research. Mayo Clinic's campus in Florida is home to the Center for Advanced Research, which is supported by the American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA). The APDA-supported center is recognized as meeting the highest academic standards and being a distinguished leader in the field of Parkinson's disease research. Read more about the APDA-supported center.
  • Center for Regenerative Biotherapeutics. The Center for Regenerative Biotherapeutics works to develop regenerative medicine therapies for patients through laboratory- and clinic-based activities.
  • Discovery and Translation Labs: Brain Research. The Brain Program through Discovery and Translation Labs at Mayo Clinic's Florida campus focuses on understanding aging, vascular diseases, stroke, Alzheimer's disease, FTD, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and movement disorders.
  • Lewy Body Dementia Center Without Walls. The Lewy Body Dementia Center Without Walls seeks to learn more about how genetics and interactions between amyloid and α-synuclein affect symptom presentation, disease progression and the underlying disease processes in Lewy body dementia. The center is led by directors Dennis W. Dickson, M.D., and Pam J. McLean, Ph.D.
  • Neurotherapeutics Initiative. This program aims to develop innovative ways to diagnose, prevent and cure neurological disorders by translating team-based neuroscience discoveries to new treatment methods and better patient care. The initiative consists of five multidisciplinary programs that work together:
    • The vision of the Drug Discovery Program, led by Wolfdieter Springer, Ph.D., is to identify therapeutic targets and create a robust and transformational drug discovery pipeline.
    • The Biomarker Discovery Program, led by Tania Gendron, Ph.D., works to deliver biomarker panels to advance drug discovery, improve clinical trial design, and improve the diagnosis and prediction of neurological disorders.
    • The Neurovascular Therapeutics Program, led by William D. Freeman, M.D., aims to discover new biomarkers and therapeutic methods for stroke and cerebrovascular diseases — primary causes of disability worldwide among neurological disorders.
    • The goal of the Regenerative Neurotherapeutics Program, led by Takahisa Kanekiyo, M.D., Ph.D., is to develop innovative regenerative products and effective stem cell-based therapies that can prevent, treat or cure neurological diseases by modulating inflammation and neuroprotective outcomes.
    • The objective of the Neuroimmune Therapeutics Program, led by Sebastian S. Lopez Chiriboga, M.D., is to advance the study and treatment of neuroimmune diseases by creating a biorepository of patient biospecimens and new therapy development and clinical testing.
  • Program Project on the study of C9orf72-associated ALS and FTD. This multisite project, directed by Leonard Petrucelli, M.D., Ph.D., seeks to improve the diagnosis of and prognosis for patients affected by C9orf72-associated ALS and FTD (c9ALS/FTD). The program is accomplishing this work through integrated studies designed to explain c9ALS/FTD disease mechanisms and identify therapeutic targets and biomarkers.
    • The Program Project, which benefits from a world-class team of investigators with expertise in neurology, genetics, neuropathology, omics, disease modeling, biomarkers and bioinformatics, consists of three projects and four cores. The projects are led by:
    • The cores are led by:
  • Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging. The Kogod Center on Aging brings together clinicians and scientists from all departments at Mayo Clinic's three campuses in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota to lead innovative ways of studying aging.