Each cell in our body contains a copy of our genetic material or DNA. DNA holds the blueprints for proteins, little machines that accomplish important processes in the cell such as regulating sugar intake, carrying oxygen etc. To make these protein machines, the information from the DNA blueprints is brought to the cell’s manufacturing plant through an intermediate molecule called messenger RNA. A decade ago, we discovered that a lot of RNAs didn’t carry information to make proteins. These RNAs were therefore dubbed non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). They were soon recognized to play important functions in the cell and were shown to be involved in cancer. Their role in immune evasion, the ability of a tumor cell to escape our immune cells, remains poorly understood. With this project, we plan to identify ncRNAs that modulate immune evasion in the context of melanoma and explore how we can exploit these ncRNAs as novel therapeutic targets.