Metastatic melanoma is a skin cancer with very high mortality rates. In order to identify a more effective treatment for metastatic melanoma patients, we need to improve our insight in the metastatic process and the different players that are involved. Recently, various studies have shown that melanoma cells release small vesicles, called exosomes, that can migrate to specific organs and affect the behavior of normal resident cells, hereby promoting metastasis formation at these sites. The aim of this project is to characterize the non-coding RNA content of these exosomes and evaluate how these non-coding RNAs mediate exosome function at target cells. To this end, I will collect exosomes from patients with localized and metastatic melanoma and identify those non-coding RNAs that are specifically enriched in exosomes from patients with metastatic disease. The function of these RNAs will be evaluated by modulating their expression levels and evaluating effects on tumor cell growth and metastasis, both in vitro and in vivo. Ultimately, this project may result in the identification of metastasis-associated biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets to block or prevent the metastatic process.