"Cancer is one of the most common reasons for death of people living in the developed countries. There were an estimated 3.2 million new cases of cancer and 1.7 million deaths in the year 2008 in Europe. Melanoma is a form of skin cancer caused by mutation of melanocytes in the skin. Common cancer therapy is not effective in treatment of metastatic melanoma. The survival rate of patients with this form of the disease is very low, indicating the need for development of new therapeutic options.The proposed research aims towards developing vaccination strategies that can be used for prevention or therapy of melanoma. Recent work in the field of cancer vaccination indicates high potential to improve and prolong the life of the patients. In the proposed research, the use of a new and very safe vaccine vector based on the modified lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (rLCMV) for fight against cancer will be elucidated. The roll of immune cells to break the normal tolerance of the organism to tumour cells will be investigated and characterised. By conducting this research, not only cancer vaccination will be brought closer to application in patients, but additional insight into the mechanisms underlying immune tolerance against cancer will be gained. Cancer vaccination is a very timely scientific field and progress in this area will be noticed by the general public worldwide.The research will be conducted in the Dermatology Department at the University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland. The researcher is from Germany and has been working in the Department of Virology at the Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg. By performing the proposed research, the applicant will get additional interdisciplinary training on immunological methods and vaccination strategies. By adding these competencies, he will afterwards be able to establish his own work group focussing on viral pathogenesis and vaccination at a European research institute or university."