Despite recent success in targeted and immunotherapies, metastatic progression remains the primary cause of death in cancer patients, underscoring a critical unmet need in oncology: the ability to predict and prevent therapy resistance before it manifests clinically. Melanoma provides an ideal model to dissect the genetic and non-genetic mechanisms driving resistance evolution. However, a fundamental barrier to translating molecular discoveries into effective interventions is the profound temporal and spatial heterogeneity of tumors, along with gaps in our understanding of resistance due to technical limitations in profiling, inadequate representation of clinically relevant contexts, and the lack of systematic, timely consistent biosampling and integrative data frameworks. As a result, despite intensive global efforts over the past decade, no major resistance-targeting breakthroughs have reached clinical practice.

The Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) Immediate Tumor Dynamics in Melanoma Therapy (DYNAMO) introduces a uniquely collaborative research programme aimed at transforming cancer therapy from a reactive to a proactive discipline. Its central innovation lies in a dual strategy designed to predict, and circumvent therapy resistance during the earliest days of treatment — within the critical DYNAMO Window, the first three weeks of systemic therapy when resistance evolution remains potentially biologically targetable. This approach integrates clearly defined biomedical (temporal and spatial) contexts with systems-biology frameworks, enabling mechanistic resolution of early resistance as a coupled tumor–microenvironment process.

By combining high-resolution multi-omics profiling, advanced computational modelling, and clinically aligned biomarker stratification, DYNAMO shall generate actionable, patient-specific predictions and resistance-targeting interventions. Structurally, the CRC is engineered for maximal synergy, leveraging shared data resources, efficient sample use, and a unified translational framework integrated into the Smart Hospital Information Platform (SHIP) of the University Hospital Essen. A key component of this framework is the CRC-integrated biosampling programme PROSEQ, a prospective clinical platform that collects paired tumor, blood, and urine samples at baseline and early during therapy from melanoma patients treated at the Department of Dermatology in Essen.

Using melanoma as a model tumor, the CRC is set to develop and validate strategies to overcome immediate resistance to targeted and immune therapies, ultimately maximizing tumor elimination. Over the span of 12 years, DYNAMO aims to establish the scientific foundation for an internationally leading, systematic, and globally scalable approach to proactive resistance prevention — setting a new standard for the future of oncology.

Doctoral Programme: DYNAMO doctoral researchers are to be enrolled in the BIOME core that is the most relevant for their thesis project. The decision is jointly made by the doctoral researcher and his/her primary and secondary thesis advisor. This facilitates scientific exchange and networking within the specialized research area of the young researchers, but still provides access to broader training opportunities offered by the graduate school. Cores of particular interest to DYNAMO doctoral members include: Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Clinical Research, Computational Biomedicine, Sex and Gender-Sensitive Medicine, and Tumour and Signalling.

The CRC programme starts 1st October 2026.

CRC 1752 Web Site is under construction and shall appear here soon.

PLEASE NOTE: Admission to the Collaborative Research Centre 1752 is closed and any enquiries or applications concerning these courses should be addressed directly to their respective speakers or coordinators and not to the Graduate School of Biomedical Science.

Speakers: