# Yale SPORE in Skin Cancer

> **NIH NIH P50** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $2,369,171

## Abstract

OVERALL: PROJECT SUMMARY
The Yale SPORE in Skin Cancer (YSPORE), now in its second funding cycle, involves a broad range of projects
and investigators with diverse expertise, whose goal is to decrease mortality from melanoma by developing
methods to prevent the disease and treat patients once it metastasizes. YSPORE leans on the immense scientific
and clinical strengths at Yale School of Medicine and Yale Cancer Center including immunobiology, genetics,
epigenetics, quantitative sciences, immuno-oncology, nanoparticles, animal models, and digital pathology.
YSPORE investigators have made major contributions in recent years to understanding the effects of ultraviolet
damage on melanocytes, determining the molecular events that lead to melanoma progression and developing
novel immune therapy approaches for melanoma patients with advanced disease. Recent advances in systemic
therapies for advanced melanoma, particularly immune checkpoint inhibitors, that prolong survival, pose a new
set of challenges for clinicians which will be addressed by the proposed research program. The YSPORE
translational research team proposes to accomplish the objective of decreasing morbidity and mortality from skin
cancer through five specific aims: Specific Aim 1: Develop novel bioadhesive sunscreens and triplet-state
quenchers for prevention of melanoma and test them in pilot clinical trials; Specific Aim 2: Develop liquid biopsy
approaches for melanomas that metastasize to sites that are difficult to biopsy. Liquid biopsies will then be
studied in patients treated with PD-1 inhibitors to identify predictors of response and determine mechanisms of
resistance; Specific Aim 3: Study novel drugs that target the epigenetic modifier KDM5, to enhance T cell
infiltration in tumors that are unresponsive to immune checkpoint inhibitors; Specific Aim 4: Develop new
approaches to overcoming resistance to PD-1 inhibitors by co-targeting the innate and adaptive immune
systems; and Specific Aim 5: Develop new research directions to decrease mortality from melanoma and
nurture the next generation of translational investigators focusing on skin cancer through a Developmental
Research Program and a Career Enhancement Program. We propose three cores (Administrative Core,
Biospecimen Core and Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core) to support the projects, their clinical aims,
mechanistic studies, and biomarker development for clinical application. The Projects and Cores are designed
to be highly coordinated with the goal of maximizing resources and potential impact. New collaborations will be
established during the funding period through the Developmental Research Program with the support of the
Administrative Core. Collaborations with other institutions and skin cancer SPORE sites will be fostered by the
Administrative Core. These coordinated efforts will enhance analysis of patient samples, use of cell cultures and
animal models, and development of predictive biomarker assays. Our purp...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9988367
- **Project number:** 5P50CA121974-13
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** MARCUS W BOSENBERG
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $2,369,171
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2006-06-01 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9988367

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9988367, Yale SPORE in Skin Cancer (5P50CA121974-13). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9988367. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*