Over the past 3 decades, Professor Mason has directed a research program whose focus is identifying and implementing nutritional and dietary strategies to prevent colorectal cancer. This research program is based at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, an institutional partnership between Tufts University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and is housed in a 14-story research facility across from Tufts Medical Center.
Dr. Mason's research laboratory has been primarily interested in examining the roles that 1-carbon nutrients (vitamins B2, B6, B12, and folate) and obesity play in determining the risk of cancer and how knowledge of the mechanisms by which these factors determine risk can be exploited to reduce the societal burden of colorectal cancer. He conducts studies in cell culture and animal disease models and uses information from these preclinical studies to inform his studies in humans. He has served as a consultant to the U.S. Government in developing the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans on these matters and the European Food Safety Authority, the European equivalent to the U.S. FDA.