Melanoma Research Alliance Launches Melanoma Biorepository to Accelerate Research and Improve Patient Outcomes

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA), the largest private non-profit funder of melanoma research, today announced the launch of the MRA Melanoma Biorepository — a major step forward in advancing melanoma science and care.

The MRA Melanoma Biorepository will serve as a growing resource that provides researchers with access to high-quality tumor and normal tissue samples from consented patients with melanoma. While roughly 90% of melanomas form on sun-exposed skin, the biorepository will be particularly helpful for the rare melanoma subtypes—such as acral and mucosal—which form in or on parts of the body that are shielded from the sun (such as palms of hands, soles of feet, under nails, or in nasal cavities and other mucosal linings). Each year, about 5,000 patients are diagnosed with these subtypes. Due to their relative obscurity, patients facing these rare subtypes are often diagnosed later and have poorer prognoses.

This new initiative in partnership with the University of Colorado, the host site for the MRA Melanoma Biorepository, allows scientists to investigate the biology of melanoma more deeply, identify new therapeutic targets, and develop predictive and prognostic biomarkers that could improve outcomes for patients with melanoma worldwide. 

"Major breakthroughs in cancer research start with access to quality biospecimens," said Joan Levy, PhD, MRA's Chief Science Officer. "Through this effort, patients can directly contribute to research that will fuel the future of improved melanoma treatments."

Biorepositories are essential to biomedical research—offering scientists the samples and data needed to uncover how diseases develop, progress and respond to therapy. Data and preclinical tools generated from samples collected via the MRA Melanoma Biorepository will help expedite the identification of new drug targets, facilitate biomarker discovery and accelerate the translation of laboratory findings into clinical advances.

The MRA Melanoma Biorepository is designed to be accessible and inclusive of all melanoma subtypes. Patients across the United States can donate samples—such as tumor tissue, blood, saliva, or other fluids—from past or future biopsies or surgeries, regardless of where they receive care. These specimens may be used for immediate research, stored for future studies or further processed into DNA, RNA or protein for advanced analysis. They may also support the creation of vital scientific resources such as cell lines, tissue microarrays, and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models.

"I'm excited to bring a decade of melanoma biobanking experience to this important MRA initiative. Biobanked samples, especially for rare melanoma subtypes, are notoriously difficult to access in the current biorepository landscape," says Kasey Couts, PhD, Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the CU Center for Rare Melanomas at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. "By creating a centralized, researcher-friendly biorepository, MRA is removing a major barrier and enabling the kind of collaborative science that will drive real breakthroughs for patients."

For more information on how to participate or to learn more about the MRA Melanoma Biorepository, visit curemelanoma.org/biorepository or email [email protected].

About Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA)
The Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA) stands as the largest non-profit funder of melanoma research. Founded in 2007 by Debra and Leon Black, MRA's mission is to end suffering and death due to melanoma by advancing the world's most promising science and research. MRA provides critical funding for melanoma cancer research that propels advances in prevention, diagnosis, treatment, metastasis, and survivorship. MRA-funded researchers have been behind every major melanoma research breakthrough. Since MRA's inception, more than 17 new therapeutic approaches for melanoma have earned FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval. MRA is recognized as one of the most fiscally efficient non-profits in the country and has committed $175 million and leveraged an additional $500+ million from outside sources to fund life-saving melanoma research needed to achieve its mission of ending suffering and death due to melanoma. Because the Black Family generously underwrites 100% of MRA's administrative and operating costs, every dollar donated is invested directly into MRA's scientific and research program. For more information, please visit: www.CureMelanoma.org.

Media Contacts:
Hunter PR
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Dana Deighton, MRA Director, Communications & Engagement
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SOURCE Melanoma Research Alliance