Understanding the self-cannibalism instincts of melanoma

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About the research 

Melanoma is a very common and lethal type of skin cancer. Melanoma cells have a strange, yet effective defence mechanism called autophagy: they can manage to survive by eating parts of themselves. Monica Vara Perez (KU Leuven - FWO) tries to figure out this self-cannibalism mechanism in order to help defeat melanoma.

Health
Cancer
Mónica Vara Perez
FWO - KU Leuven - VIB

Ever since Monica Vara Perez was very little, she wanted to know all the “whats and hows” of the world around her. This thirst was later on focused towards Biotechnology and specialized in Molecular Medicine. Her curiosity has encountered in molecular melanoma a tough but interesting challenge, which she tries to understand every day of her PhD in the lab at the KU Leuven – VIB (CCB). She is convinced that basic research is the way to understand diseases so that better treatments can follow.

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