Research Cores

Core 1: Administration

Ruth Halaban, PhD, Director
Mario Sznol, MD, Robert Tigelaar, MD, Co-Directors

This core is responsible for establishing the infrastructure, communication and evaluation systems of the SPORE, identifying new areas for translational research, organizing research in progress meetings, inter-SPORE collaborations, workshops, fostering collaborations with biotechnology companies, and supporting patient advocates activities, among others.

Core 2: Specimen Resource Core

Jennifer M. McNiff, MD, David Rimm, MD/PhD, Ruth Halaban, PhD, Co-Directors Antonella Bacchiocchi, Core Manager

The Core provides support for translational projects, developmental research projects as well as the skin cancer-related research of non-SPORE investigators. The Core collects, stores and distributes to SPORE investigators multiple matched specimens for various analyses. The current tissue bank includes:

• Snap-frozen and paraffin-embedded melanoma specimens
• Cell culture from tumor specimens
• Snap-frozen patient matched normal skin and circulating blood cells
• Serum and plasma from melanoma patients and healthy individuals
• Normal melanocytes from newborn and adult skin
• DNA, RNA and proteins from patients and healthy individuals
• DNA from BCC cases and healthy age and gender matched controls

Core 3: Bioinformatics/Biostatistics Core

Michael Krauthammer, MD/PhD, Annette Molinaro, PhD Co-Directors.

The bioinformatics/biostatistics core handles the bioinformatics, statistical and data management of the SPORE projects. The core performs bioinformatics analyses of “omics” data from whole-genome gene expression, DNA methylation, SNP and CNV data, designing novel statistical approaches as needed. The core is in charge of a study tracking system, and is maintaining the data management for the YSPORE tissue collection, using caTISSUE, a caBIG compliant, NCI-sponsored specimen tracking systems. The core is an active participant in caBIG, with the goal of establishing a data-sharing network that allows for collaboration among skin cancer researchers at Yale and across the nation.