Since my Postdoc time at the University of Chicago 2001-2003 my research has focused on combination immune checkpoint inhibition. While initially being interested in stage IV disease treatment, we have pioneered neoadjuvant checkpoint inhibition in the last years. This therapeutic approach bears the advantage that one can achieve higher response rates, has more tumor material for translational research from homogenous patient populations, that makes it easier to identify baseline biomarkers and mechanisms of resistance.
Our overall goal is to develop personalized therapies, so that we can offer to every melanoma patient a customized therapy within the next years.