A Place for Collaboration – Building the future of medical research

Mayo Clinic's Multiple Myeloma Research Program was one of the first tenants in a new facility that brings together world-class scientists and the latest technologies to create a state-of-the-art research environment.

The Mayo Clinic Collaborative Research Building — a 110,000-square-foot facility that opened in June 2005 on the Scottsdale, Ariz., campus of Mayo Clinic — houses staff from Mayo Clinic, Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), and others engaged in research on cancer-fighting drugs. The building includes space for basic research and drug development laboratories, as well as Mayo Clinic research offices.

Mayo and TGen have partnered to combine technological, academic, research and clinical expertise to bring innovative research findings directly to patients.

"The collaboration signifies hope for patients battling cancer. All of us in this partnership understand the urgency, and together we are committed to moving swiftly toward solutions that will make a difference in our patients' lives," says Jeffrey Trent, Ph.D., president and scientific director of TGen.

The building is the first of its kind for Mayo Clinic, bringing multiple strategic partners under one roof dedicated to scientific discovery and therapies to benefit people around the world.

"This new facility represents an opportunity to greatly enhance our ongoing biomedical research collaboration with colleagues at TGen and other research groups," says Victor Trastek, M.D., CEO of Mayo Clinic Arizona. "It also supports a critical component of our mission — supporting medical research that will help patients and ultimately lead to decreasing the burden of human disease."

The $25 million facility was funded by Scottsdale developer Tom Hornaday. His interest in medical research has been fueled by personal experience. Hornaday's mother died from breast cancer in her early 50s. Hornaday and his wife, Ruth Ann, lost their daughter, Kristi, to melanoma when she was in her 20s.

Hornaday's goal is for the work in the Mayo Clinic Collaborative Research Building to bring about the development of new therapies for cancer and other diseases.

"My mother died from breast cancer when she was 52, and I was 19. My daughter died from melanoma when she was 26, and I was 52," says Hornaday. "My hope, my prayer and my belief is that the research conducted in this building will result in treatments that will provide cures so others will not experience these same kinds of untimely loss."