Melanoma is an aggressive form of skin cancer that can become life-threatening when it spreads, or metastasizes, to other parts of the body. While immunotherapy has improved outcomes for some patients, many still fail to respond. Dr. Tara Muijlwijk is investigating how melanoma spreads to the lymph nodes and how the immune system’s response within these sites may actually support cancer progression.

The lymph nodes are small immune hubs designed to detect and respond to threats like cancer. However, tumors can co-opt their function to avoid immune attack. Using advanced imaging and molecular tools, Dr. Muijlwijk will map interactions between immune and tumor cells in these metastatic environments. “By uncovering these processes, we hope to identify new strategies to block melanoma spread and improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy,” she explains. Her research could also offer insights into other cancers that metastasize to the lymph nodes, including breast and head and neck cancers. Dr. Muijlwijk is a translational immuno-oncology researcher with expertise in tumor heterogeneity and immune regulation. Her early work explored genetic diversity in gastrointestinal cancers and immune suppression in sentinel lymph nodes. During her PhD, she characterized a distinct subclass of head and neck cancer with few copy number alterations (a specific type of genetic mutation) and studied how immune landscapes vary across tumor sites. She now investigates tumor-immune interactions in melanoma, combining human specimen analysis with mechanistic studies to inform next-generation immunotherapies.

Sponsor

Amanda Lund, PhD

Research Focus

Melanoma, lymph node metastasis, cancer-immune cell interactions

Projects and Grants

Defining tumor and immune co-evolution in cutaneous melanoma lymph node metastasis