Cancer is one of the main leading causes of death in children and adults. Paediatric cancers arise during development when tissues are growing. In contrast, cancer in adults develops from tissues that have reached their final size. Additionally, paediatric cancer responds differently to cancer therapy and is more lethal compared to cancer in adults, however, the reasons accounting for these differences are not fully understood.  

Melanoma is the most common and deadly skin cancer in children and adolescents. Combining genetic mouse models, grafting experiments and in vitro cultures, we aim at understanding the similarities and differences in pediatric and adult melanoma progression and response to therapy. 

Neuroblastomas (NBs) are among  the most common solid tumors and a leading cause of pediatric death. They are composed of different tumor and tumor microenvironment cell populations, and present cellular heterogeneity. Cellular heterogeneity has been proposed to be responsible for tumor progression and therapy resistance. 

We are interested to identify the cell populations that mediate tumor progression in those tumors. In addition, we aim at uncovering how these cell populations dynamically evolve during therapy and infer which populations resist the therapy, potentially leading to tumor relapse. To this end, we combine state-of-the art genetic mouse models, grafting experiments and in vitro cultures.