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Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2016

Geography: Austria

The Austrian-American team behind the study, led by Dr. Igor Vujic, aims at identifying more specific and sensitive biomarkers in order to better detect and monitor progression of malignant melanoma – a common and deadly skin cancer that is difficult to treat, and that accounts for numerous deaths each year.

In the clinic, physicians face two main problems around malignant melanoma: detection of early disease, and monitoring of disease progression, recurrence and its response to therapies. The existing melanoma biomarkers are not very specific and only rarely help.

Melanoma cells, however, produce a specific set of RNA molecules of which some are excreted and found in the blood stream – ready for identification and use as biomarkers. Recent technical advances make it possible to extract and analyse serum RNA and identify the cell of origin.

The team will mainly concentrate on non-coding RNAs, a new class of molecules known to be very specific for certain diseases such as cancer. Preliminary studies have identified and confirmed 237 interesting candidates through RNA-Seq TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) data.

In the course of the study, the team will perform RNA-Seq studies on serum samples from melanoma patients and healthy individuals to find differences in RNA quality and quantity to be used as melanoma serum-markers. The team will moreover test changes of the amount of these specific RNA molecules in melanoma patients over time to discover if they can be used as disease progression biomarkers.

Grant category: LEO Foundation Awards

Year: 2012

Geography: Austria

Presented to Assistant Professor David Schrama at the Dermatology Department at Graz Medical University, Austria.

Schrama’s research focuses on melanoma biology. His research team currently analyses the impact of genetic diversity among patients and tumours on prognosis and clinical outcome of therapies. In recent years, Schrama’s scientific work has focused on unravelling the biology of another skin cancer; the polyomavirus associated merkel cell carcinoma.