Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) awarded Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research a $693,290 Project Grant effective May 1, 2026, through April 30, 2031, under the Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research Program (CFDA 93.394). This research initiative focuses on identifying spatial tumor microenvironment (TME) signatures for risk stratification in primary melanoma through comprehensive multiplexed immunofluorescence (MIF) tissue imaging analysis of 450 stage II/III melanoma specimens from the INTERMEL case-control study. The study utilizes retrospectively enrolled cutaneous primary melanoma patients from 15 treatment centers across the USA, Australia, and Spain, comparing cases of patients who died of melanoma within five years of diagnosis against controls who survived at least five years without recurrence.

The primary deliverables include development of a large-scale MIF image data repository for primary melanoma, innovative computational methods and spatial immuno-phenotyping tools, and identification of spatial TME signatures capable of distinguishing aggressive versus indolent disease. By analyzing immune cell and tumor vasculature markers across whole-slide tissue samples, the project aims to advance melanoma risk stratification and provide researchers with both critical biological imaging data and computational resources to enhance understanding of tumor microenvironment biology and its role in predicting therapeutic outcomes and cancer progression.