Christoph Bock contributes to Horizon Europe consortium investigating melanoma risk in young adults
CeMM Principal Investigator and Medical University Professor Christoph Bock is part of the newly funded Horizon Europe Mission Cancer project PhotoMel, an international consortium investigating how early-life UV light exposure and skincare additives contribute to skin cancer (melanoma) in young adults.
Coordinated by the Medical University of Vienna, the project brings together leading experts in dermatology, molecular biology, imaging, computational modelling, and patient advocacy to uncover environmental drivers of melanoma risk and improve prevention strategies. Malignant melanoma is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality among young Europeans. PhotoMel aims to address this challenge by investigating how childhood and adolescent exposures to UV light reshape the skin microenvironment and contribute to melanoma initiation and early spread. The consortium will combine ex vivo skin models, spatial multiomics, extracellular matrix analyses, advanced microscopy, functional genomics approaches including CROP-seq, and computational modelling to understand how environmental exposures influence skin biology and cancer risk.
Christoph Bock and his team at CeMM will contribute multi-omics technology and computational biology to investigate how environmental exposures alter cellular states and tissue organization associated with melanoma development. Through integrative analyses of molecular and spatial datasets, the team will help identify signatures linked to exposure-driven melanoma progression and metastatic risk.
Running from September 2026 to August 2030, and with a total budget of €5.7 million, PhotoMel is part of the Horizon Europe Mission Cancer cluster focused on understanding environmental exposures in children, adolescents, and young adults. The project aims to identify new biomarkers, predictive models, and evidence-based approaches to improve prevention and personalized care for melanoma in this population.
Project title: PhotoMel – Decoding Early-Life UVA and Skincare Additive Interactions Driving Melanoma Risk and Progression in Young Adults
Funding program: Horizon Europe Mission Cancer
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