The discovery that cancer cells actively and passively release their content into the blood stream has opened enormous opportunities for characterizing cancer cells without the need for surgery to access tumor tissue Instead, a simple drop of blood is sufficient to detect and characterize cancer cells inside a patient’ body The use of circulating DNA molecules has spurred this field, but the study of circulating RNA molecules also seems attractive with specific claimed advantages In this research project, we will explore the power and limitations of extracellular RNA in the blood from cancer patients with the ultimate goal to improve their outcome We will develop standardized procedures to measure extracellular RNA in blood to maximize cancer detection sensitivity Also, we will evaluate if we can use this type of RNA to monitor response to therapy We will try to answer both fundamental research questions as well as develop applications to be used in the clinic While melanoma is our use case, the results will be useful for other cancer types