News

Dr. Mélanie Tichet, group leader at the LOEWE Center Frankfurt Cancer Institute (FCI) and the Georg-Speyer-Haus, has been awarded the prestigious Beug Foundation Prize for Metastasis Research. The prize honors innovative and promising young scientists who are advancing the understanding of cancer metastasis.

"I am honored to receive this award from the Beug Foundation," says Dr. Tichet. "Understanding how aging affects tumor behavior is essential if we are to improve outcomes for older melanoma patients. This support allows us to pursue a line of research that has long been neglected but is urgently needed."

The award-winning project "Aging and Therapy Resistance in Metastatic Melanoma" addresses an important but often overlooked aspect of cancer biology: the influence of aging on tumor growth and the associated response to treatments. Preclinical research is still largely based on young models, failing to consider that older melanoma patients generally have poorer prognoses. Mélanie Tichet's work aims to close this gap: by developing and analyzing melanoma models that better reflect the biology of aging, she seeks to uncover why older patients respond differently to targeted and immune-based therapies.

The Foundation's prize committee highlighted the novelty and strong translational relevance of the project and acknowledged its scientific value. By focusing on the influence of the aged tumor microenvironment on metastasis and therapy resistance, the project has the potential to open up new avenues for more effective, age-appropriate treatments.

The Beug Foundation for Metastasis Research was established in memory of Prof. Hartmut Beug to promote outstanding basic and translational research in the field of metastasis. The Metastasis Prize, awarded every two years, recognizes young researchers for exceptional contributions to this field.

Further information can be found here: https://www.beugstiftung-metastase.de/tichet/