Dr. Bergen is Co-Director with Dr. Daniel McCormick of the Mayo Proteomics Research Center (MPRC). The MPRC's mission is to: "Provide the skills, tools and methods to foster a complete understanding of the human proteome and translate this knowledge to predict, prevent and cure human disease."

A major part of proteomics involves the use of mass spectrometers to identify and characterize proteins and peptides. My research interests involve the application of these tools to elucidate the human proteome. This has included the analysis of intact proteins for variants and the analysis of post-translational modifications. Our laboratory has been successful in translating these mass spectrometry based ananlysis into clinical assays for the characterization of proteins related to disease.

Additional ongoing research involves developing new tools to discover disease biomarkers. Electrospray ion suppression is a major limiting factor in identifying low abundance proteins and peptides (potential biomarkers) in complex matrices. The abundant ions "steal" charge from low abundance ions and mask the presence of these low abundant ions. The ability to fractionate these complex matrices into subproteomes is a major research objective. Successful isolation of subproteomes will allow us to interrogate complex mixtures for biomarkers that will be useful in the early detection of disease.