INDIANAPOLIS — The world’s only healthy breast tissue bank at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center is hosting a collection event on June 10 for men only.

About one in every 100 breast cancers diagnosed are in men and IU researchers know that male breast cancer behaves and develops differently than in women. The initiative is set to give researchers worldwide access to an entirely new resource for their work.

The Komen Tissue Bank in downtown Indianapolis is a resource within the Vera Bradley Foundation Center for Breast Cancer Research at the cancer center, which includes physicians and scientists who are focused on preventing, treating, and curing breast cancer.

Officials at the center say the goal is to remind people that breast cancer can affect everyone and to utilize and collect resources to study it.

“June 10th is a special collection event. Since 2007, we have hosted over 50 events here at the IU Simon Cancer Center and we have received tissue from over 5,000 women,” Michele Cote, Director of Komen Tissue Bank at IU’s Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center said. “This is going to be our first men-only, focused event. We’re hoping to recruit men to come in and to give us a small sample of their breast tissue, to give us a little bit of information about their family history, their medical history, and ultimately to become part of the Komen Tissue Bank that distributes these samples worldwide for researchers everywhere to help prevent and ultimately cure breast cancer.”

If you’re interested in donating or to learn more about the male breast tissue collection on Saturday, June 10 you can visit their website or contact the Komen Tissue Bank at (317) 274-2366 or email komentb@iupui.edu.

Pre-registration is required and appointment times are limited.