The translational research interest of Dr. Sondak is in allogeneic tumor vaccines for patients with intermediate-risk melanoma. He has served as chair of the Melanoma Committee for the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG). He has focused on evaluation of the Melacine allogeneic vaccine in patients with intermediate- thickness, node-negative melanoma and has designed phase II and III trials using a lysate of allogeneic melanoma cell lines in the postoperative adjuvant therapy setting and, in some instances, in the preoperative setting to monitor immune responses in the sentinel lymph nodes and systemically. A series of randomized phase II trials involving melanoma patients using different vaccination strategies (for instance, comparing adjuvants such as DETOX versus CpG oligonucleotides, etc.) are evaluated in sequence to optimize the vaccination process and identify immunologic endpoints and biologic correlates of response. Based on a previous SWOG trial, CTEP approval has been obtained for a large-scale, phase III randomized trial of this allogeneic melanoma cell lysate plus DETOX in the adjuvant therapy of intermediate-risk melanomas. In this setting, biologic correlative studies will be sought.