With a two-day kick-off meeting at Hotel Franz in Essen, the new CRC 1752 "DYNAMO" officially started its work with one shared mission: to understand, predict and ultimately prevent therapy resistance in melanoma.

DYNAMO focuses on the earliest changes occurring in tumor cells and their microenvironment during cancer treatment. By combining patient-derived samples with advanced multi-omics technologies, experimental models and computational approaches, our goal is to understand how therapy resistance develops and how it might be prevented.
 

During interactive workshops, DYNAMO researchers from Essen, Bonn and Dortmund laid the foundation for shared multi-omics workflows, data integration and cross-project collaboration. We also held our first General Assembly and welcomed our new generation of doctoral researchers to the DYNAMO community.

The DYNAMO Night Science rounded off the first day with a fun evening of team activities and informal exchange.

Many thanks to all participants for making our kick-off such a successful event. We look forward to the research and collaboration ahead!
 

We gratefully acknowledge funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation).

Great news for melanoma research! The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved the new Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1752 "Immediate Tumor Dynamics in Melanoma Therapy" (DYNAMO). Coordinated by the University of Duisburg-Essen, the research consortium will begin its work on 1 October 2026, bringing together scientists from Essen, Bonn and Dortmund.

DYNAMO aims to understand, predict and ultimately prevent therapy resistance in melanoma. Although targeted therapies and immunotherapies have significantly improved treatment outcomes, many patients develop resistance over time. DYNAMO focuses on the earliest phase of treatment, when tumor cells and their surrounding microenvironment begin to adapt to therapy.

By combining patient samples collected before and shortly after treatment initiation with advanced multi-omics technologies, experimental models and computational approaches, the researchers aim to uncover the molecular mechanisms driving these early adaptations. The ultimate goal is to identify new strategies to prevent resistance and improve long-term treatment outcomes.

DYNAMO combines expertise from a wide range of disciplines, including clinical oncology, experimental cancer research, immunology and computational biology. Led by Prof. Dr. Alexander Roesch as spokesperson and Prof. Dr. Kathrin Thedieck as deputy spokesperson, the consortium brings together researchers from the University of Duisburg-Essen and University Hospital Essen, the University of Bonn and University Hospital Bonn, and the Leibniz Institute for Analytical Sciences (ISAS) in Dortmund.

"With DYNAMO, we want to move towards a more proactive approach to cancer treatment – identifying and targeting resistance mechanisms before they become established," emphasizes Prof. Dr. Alexander Roesch.

We are grateful to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) for funding CRC 1752 DYNAMO and supporting this ambitious collaborative research initiative.