Jürgen Becker

Prof. Dr. Dr. Jürgen Becker is Head of the Department of Translational Skin Cancer Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen's Faculty of Biology and leads the Translational Oncology group at the West German Cancer Center (WTZ). He is affiliated with the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and focuses on leveraging skin cancer's unique characteristics – early diagnosis and sequential progression – to study tumor biology and immunotherapy responses.

His research integrates advanced methodologies including spatial transcriptomics, single-cell multiomics, micro-CT, and deep learning to analyze tumor microenvironments, heterogeneity, and biomarker discovery. Key interests include:

• Immunotherapy optimization for Merkel cell carcinoma and melanoma
• Tumor microenvironment dynamics and endogenous retrovirus activation
• Biomarker development for early diagnosis and treatment response
• DNA repair/DNA damage response inhibition strategies

Becker leads significant clinical trials (ADMEC-O, IMMUNED) and maintains prospective biosample registries (MCC TRIM) to enable longitudinal studies. His publications emphasize translational insights in skin cancer, with recent work exploring immunotherapy biomarkers, Merkel cell polyomavirus mechanisms, and combinatorial therapies.

He directs a research group at WTZ investigating tumor epidermotropism, neuroblastic transformation, and lesional microbiome impacts. Future projects include 3D tissue mapping via micro-CT and multi-omic integration of archived FFPE samples.