Mayo Clinic names new directors for Research Cores

The Mayo Clinic Research Core Subcommittee has named new directors for two Mayo Clinic Research Cores.

Darren Baker, Ph.D. (TBIO ’05), will serve as director of the Transgenic and Knockout Core. Dr. Baker has a joint appointment in Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He has worked in the field of genetically engineered mouse models for almost 20 years. His independent research laboratory focuses on mouse models of premature aging, tumorigenesis, and senescence in aging and disease.

Dr. Baker has generated and characterized more than 20 unique mouse model strains and has served as interim director of the Transgenic and Knockout Core.

Jose C. (J.C.) Villasboas Bisneto, M.D. (HEMO ’17), Division of Hematology, is the new director of the Immune Monitoring Core. Dr. Villasboas practices in lymphoma, stem cell transplantation and adoptive cell therapy. His research focus is tumor immunology with emphasis on lymphoid malignancies, although his laboratory has active projects in breast cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and CAR-T cell therapy.

Dr. Villasboas pioneered the use of mass cytometry (CyTOF) technology at Mayo Clinic, first traveling to the University of Minnesota to use their institutional system until Mayo purchased one in 2017. He later developed applications for the Hyperion system (imaging mass cytometry), which further enhanced the ability of Mayo Clinic to perform mass cytometry experiments.

Dr. Villasboas previously was the associate director of the Immune Monitoring Core with Larry Pease, Ph.D. (IMM ’84), who started the Core in 2017 and directed it until his retirement in 2020. Since then, Dr. Villasboas has been interim director of the Core.

The Immune Monitoring Core is a Mayo-wide service provider dedicated to mass cytometry technology, with sites in Rochester and Scottsdale.