Research

The NYU Center of Excellence in Cancers of the Skin explores four key research initiatives: melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and Merkel cell cancer.

Melanoma Research

The NYU Melanoma Program focuses its research efforts on the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of melanoma. By facilitating interactions between its basic science and clinical cores, the Melanoma Program seeks to facilitate a research environment where observations and discoveries are rapidly transferred between the clinic and the laboratory. The three major program objectives are to: 1) identify risk factors and prognostic markers of melanoma progression; 2) evaluate the biologic heterogeneity of melanoma, including expression, function and molecular alterations of growth control pathways, oncogenes and antigens; and 3) develop and integrate immunotherapeutic approaches with chemotherapeutic and biological therapies in the treatment of melanoma.

Leader: Iman Osman

Basal Cell Carcinoma Research

BCC, the most common human malignancy, affects 1 in 3 Caucasians in the US. The research conducted aims to identify non-melanoma skin cancer susceptibility genes and searching for the stem-cell of origin for BCC. These studies can also serve as a paradigm for other malignancies in which the hedgehog (Hh) pathway has been implicated such as medulloblastoma and glioblastoma.

Leader: Pamela Cowin

Merkel Cell Carcinoma Research

Recent developments in Merkel Cell carcinoma (MCC), an uncommon and aggressive cutaneous malignancy, has a higher mortality than melanoma. The MCC Working Group aims to bring the latest medical knowledge from multiple medical disciplines to the care of MCC patients in a multidisciplinary format, and to develop a translational program to discover new therapies that can be moved rapidly into the clinic.

Leader: Seth Orlow

Squamous Cell Carcinoma Research

The two major themes of the SCC Working Group are to understand the molecular pathogenesis of SCC and to discover new preventative and therapeutic strategies to reduce the incidence and morbidity from this common disease.

Leader: Chuanshu Huang