By Cody R. Barnett, MRA Director of Communications

Through powerful research, the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA) is quickly delivering results and saving lives. In ten years, the Melanoma Research Alliance has become the largest, nonprofit funder of melanoma research worldwide. In fact, with the announcement of 28 new grant awards, MRA has now funded $100 million in the areas of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment!

This year’s grant awards support 13 Team Science and 15 Young Investigator Awards. Together, these awards represent the single largest grant year ever by MRA. These research projects will accelerate research addressing critical issues in melanoma, including identifying novel drug targets, treatments and biomarkers, as well as studies aimed at preventing melanoma or improving methods of early detection.

These 28 research projects will accelerate research addressing critical issues in melanoma, including identifying novel drug targets, treatments and biomarkers, as well as studies aimed at preventing melanoma or improving methods of early detection. Several research projects will provide critical advancements in the understanding of rare and difficult-to-treat melanoma subtypes. Six awards will examine new therapeutic interventions to determine how specific genetic alterations contribute to the development and progression to acral lentiginous melanoma.

We’ve made incredible progress, but we won’t quit until we achieve our goal of curing melanoma.

We can’t do it alone.Grants from MRA are possible through the generous support of individuals, families, institutions, and corporate allies. And, through the generous ongoing support of our founders Debra and Leon Black, 100 percent of all contributions from donors go directly to science, without any admin, development, or fundraising fees.

This article was originally published on April 25, 2018, by the Melanoma Research Alliance. It is republished with permission.