A new reality is knocking at Chicago’s door. We are closer than ever before, which is why we need your help to push the research door wide open. Under the leadership of Director Steven Rosen MD, Northwestern University’s Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center just joined our Melanoma Tissue Bank Consortium and committed $50,000 to initiate funding of their site. Skin of Steel immediately matched that amount. Now we have a home in Chicago, institutional support and real momentum…but we still need you.

An additional $600,000 is needed to make the Chicago branch of the tissue bank fully operational and facilitate the collection, storage and annotation of 125 primary tumor tissue specimens. The cost of running the entire four branch bank for 3 years is $3.3 million. The Lurie Cancer Center will become the fourth institution in the consortium joining the University of Pittsburgh’s Hillman cancer Institute, Oregon Health and Science University’s Knight Cancer Institute, and the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute. We anticipate an international site will join the consortium as a fifth member. We also anticipate that other leading Chicago research institutions will quickly access the Bank for approved research.

The addition of the Lurie Cancer Center to the Melanoma Tissue Bank Consortium enhances Northwestern’s commitment to developing the best care possible for melanoma patients in Chicago and the Midwest. Dr. Jeff Wayne will be the Principal Investigator and Dr. Pedram Gerami will be the Co-Investigator. Northwestern’s participation in this critical bank brings Skin of Steel one step closer to achieving its mission of establishing Chicago as a center of excellence for melanoma research and treatment.