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We identify emerging frontiers in clinical and basic research of melanocyte biology and its associated biomedical disciplines. We describe challenges and opportunities in clinical and basic research of normal and diseased melanocytes that impact current approaches to research in melanoma and the dermatological sciences. We focus on four themes: (1) clinical melanoma research, (2) basic melanoma research, (3) clinical dermatology, and (4) basic pigment cell research, with the goal of outlining current highlights, challenges, and frontiers associated with pigmentation and melanocyte biology. Significantly, this document encapsulates important advances in melanocyte and melanoma research including emerging frontiers in melanoma immunotherapy, medical and surgical oncology, dermatology, vitiligo, albinism, genomics and systems biology, epidemiology, pigment biophysics and chemistry, and evolution.
Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, poses a significant clinical challenge for the development of effective treatments. Conventional in vivo animal studies have shown limited translational relevance to humans, raising strength to pre-clinical models for melanoma research. This review provides an in-depth analysis of alternative pre-clinical models including in vitro and ex vivo platforms such as reconstructed skin, spheroids, organoids, organotypic models, skin-on-a-chip, and bioprinting. Through a comprehensive analysis, the specific attributes, advantages, and limitations of each model are elucidated. It discusses the points related to the uniqueness advantages, from capturing complex interactions between melanoma cells and their microenvironment to enabling high-throughput drug screening and personalized medicine approaches. This review is structured covering firstly the roadmap to identify the co-occurrence of discovering new melanoma treatments and the development of its models, secondly it covers a comparative between the most used models followed by a section discussing each of them: the in vitro and ex vivo models. It intends to serve as an asset for researchers of melanoma field and clinicians involved in melanoma therapy, offering insights into the diverse preclinical models available for optimizing their integration into the translational pipeline.
BACKGROUND: Raman spectroscopy is an optical noninvasive screening technology that generates individual fingerprints of living cells by reflecting their molecular constitution. AIM: To discriminate melanoma cells from melanocytes, to identify drug-induced melanoma cell death stages (apoptosis, necrosis, autophagy) and to assess the susceptibility of melanoma cells to anticancer therapy. METHODS: We used Raman spectroscopy on normal and melanoma cells, and on wild-type (WT) and mutant melanoma cells, to investigate whether the technique could distinguish between different types of cells, identify mutations and evaluate response to anticancer therapy. RESULTS: Using the multivariate principal component analysis of the Raman spectra, melanocytes could be distinguished from melanoma cells, and WT melanoma cells could be distinguished from melanoma cells with BRAF or NRAS mutations. When we used the apoptosis inducer staurosporine, the necrosis inducer 3-bromopyruvate and the autophagy inducer resveratrol to induce cell death in SKMEL28 melanoma cells, Raman spectroscopy clearly distinguished between these three types of cell death, as confirmed by immunoblotting. Finally, the technique could discriminate between different melanoma cell lines according to their susceptibility to high-dose ascorbate. CONCLUSIONS: Raman spectroscopy is a powerful noninvasive tool to distinguish between melanocytes and melanoma cells, to analyze the specific type of cell death in melanoma cells, and to predict the susceptibility of melanoma cells to anticancer drugs.
Patients with rare types of melanoma such as acral, mucosal, or uveal melanoma, have lower survival rates than patients with cutaneous melanoma; these lower survival rates reflect the lower objective response rates to immunotherapy compared to cutaneous melanoma. Understanding tumor-immune dynamics in rare melanomas is critical for the development of new therapies and for improving response rates to current cancer therapies. Progress has been hindered by the lack of clinical data and the need for better preclinical models of rare melanomas. Canine melanoma provides a valuable comparative oncology model for rare types of human melanomas. We analyzed RNA sequencing data from canine melanoma patients and combined this with literature information to create a novel mechanistic mathematical model of melanoma-immune dynamics. Sensitivity analysis of the mathematical model indicated influential pathways in the dynamics, providing support for potential new therapeutic targets and future combinations of therapies. We share our learnings from this work, to help enable the application of this proof-of-concept workflow to other rare disease settings with sparse available data.
This paper presents a scientometric analysis of research output from the University of Lagos, focusing on the two decades spanning 2004 to 2023. Using bibliometric data retrieved from the Web of Science, we examine trends in publication volume, collaboration patterns, citation impact, and the most prolific authors, departments, and research domains at the university. The study reveals a consistent increase in research productivity, with the highest publication output recorded in 2023. Health Sciences, Engineering, and Social Sciences are identified as dominant fields, reflecting the university's interdisciplinary research strengths. Collaborative efforts, both locally and internationally, show a positive correlation with higher citation impact, with the United States and the United Kingdom being the leading international collaborators. Notably, open-access publications account for a significant portion of the university's research output, enhancing visibility and citation rates. The findings offer valuable insights into the university's research performance over the past two decades, providing a foundation for strategic planning and policy formulation to foster research excellence
Demographic data collection is essential in education research, as demographic data allows researchers to better describe the participant population they study and to contextualize findings. However, current research practices for neurodiversity demographics often rely on prescriptive methods (e.g., requiring participants to report official diagnoses) rather than allowing participants to self-identify. This approach can: a) not allow participants to express their intersecting identities in ways that are authentic; and b) limit trustworthiness and reliability of the data and interpretation. In addition, inconsistent dissemination and representation of demographic data across studies hinder the accessibility and usability of this work. Through a literature review of neurodivergent student experiences with learning and performing STEM, we identified widespread discrepancies in how demographic information is collected and reported. This paper explores how neurodivergent identities can be more accurately and inclusively represented in education research. We present findings of a thematic analysis on the ways neurodivergent demographic data collection is done in the literature using data
Melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer with five-year survival rates exceeding 99% when detected early but falling sharply once the disease spreads. This paper proposes and evaluates a two-stage fine-tuning approach for ResNet50 applied to binary melanoma classification on dermoscopic images. The core challenges addressed are class imbalance and suboptimal transfer learning from single-stage fine-tuning. After stratified train/validation/test splitting, random oversampling was applied exclusively to the training set to achieve a 1:1 class balance. Stage 1 trained only the classification head with the ResNet50 base frozen, while Stage 2 fine-tuned all layers jointly at a low learning rate of 1e-5 to prevent catastrophic forgetting of learned visual features. On an independent test set of 3,826 images, the model achieved an AUC-ROC of 0.9559, accuracy of 88.34%, sensitivity of 87.56%, specificity of 89.13%, and F1-score of 88.29%. An ablation study confirms the two-stage protocol significantly outperforms single-stage fine-tuning, with sensitivity gains of over 4%. Grad-CAM visualizations demonstrate correct lesion localization. A fully deployable Streamlit detection appl
Melanoma is the most lethal form of skin cancer, and early detection is critical for improving patient outcomes. Although dermoscopy combined with deep learning has advanced automated skin-lesion analysis, progress is hindered by limited access to large, well-annotated datasets and by severe class imbalance, where melanoma images are substantially underrepresented. To address these challenges, we present the first systematic benchmarking study comparing four GAN architectures-DCGAN, StyleGAN2, and two StyleGAN3 variants (T/R)-for high-resolution melanoma-specific synthesis. We train and optimize all models on two expert-annotated benchmarks (ISIC 2018 and ISIC 2020) under unified preprocessing and hyperparameter exploration, with particular attention to R1 regularization tuning. Image quality is assessed through a multi-faceted protocol combining distribution-level metrics (FID), sample-level representativeness (FMD), qualitative dermoscopic inspection, downstream classification with a frozen EfficientNet-based melanoma detector, and independent evaluation by two board-certified dermatologists. StyleGAN2 achieves the best balance of quantitative performance and perceptual quality,
This scientometric study analyzes Avian Influenza research from 2014 to 2023 using bibliographic data from the Web of Science database. We examined publication trends, sources, authorship, collaborative networks, document types, and geographical distribution to gain insights into the global research landscape. Results reveal a steady increase in publications, with high contributions from Chinese and American institutions. Journals such as PLoS One and the Journal of Virology published the highest number of studies, indicating their influence in this field. The most prolific institutions include the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Hong Kong, while the College of Veterinary Medicine at South China Agricultural University emerged as the most productive department. China and the USA lead in publication volume, though developed nations like the United Kingdom and Germany exhibit a higher rate of international collaboration. "Articles" are the most common document type, constituting 84.6% of the total, while "Reviews" account for 7.6%. This study provides a comprehensive view of global trends in Avian Influenza research, emphasizing the need for collaborative efforts ac
This study focuses on analyzing dermoscopy images to determine the depth of melanomas, which is a critical factor in diagnosing and treating skin cancer. The Breslow depth, measured from the top of the granular layer to the deepest point of tumor invasion, serves as a crucial parameter for staging melanoma and guiding treatment decisions. This research aims to improve the prediction of the depth of melanoma through the use of machine learning models, specifically deep learning, while also providing an analysis of the possible existance of graduation in the images characteristics which correlates with the depth of the melanomas. Various datasets, including ISIC and private collections, were used, comprising a total of 1162 images. The datasets were combined and balanced to ensure robust model training. The study utilized pre-trained Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). Results indicated that the models achieved significant improvements over previous methods. Additionally, the study conducted a correlation analysis between model's predictions and actual melanoma thickness, revealing a moderate correlation that improves with higher thickness values. Explainability methods such as fea
As the application of deep learning in dermatology continues to grow, the recognition of melanoma has garnered significant attention, demonstrating potential for improving diagnostic accuracy. Despite advancements in image classification techniques, existing models still face challenges in identifying subtle visual cues that differentiate melanoma from benign lesions. This paper presents a novel Deeply Dual Supervised Learning framework that integrates local and global feature extraction to enhance melanoma recognition. By employing a dual-pathway structure, the model focuses on both fine-grained local features and broader contextual information, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the image content. The framework utilizes a dual attention mechanism that dynamically emphasizes critical features, thereby reducing the risk of overlooking subtle characteristics of melanoma. Additionally, we introduce a multi-scale feature aggregation strategy to ensure robust performance across varying image resolutions. Extensive experiments on benchmark datasets demonstrate that our framework significantly outperforms state-of-the-art methods in melanoma detection, achieving higher accuracy an
Early and accurate melanoma detection is crucial for improving patient outcomes. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence AI have shown promise in this area, but the technologys effectiveness across diverse skin tones remains a critical challenge. This study conducts a systematic review and preliminary analysis of AI based melanoma detection research published between 2013 and 2024, focusing on deep learning methodologies, datasets, and skin tone representation. Our findings indicate that while AI can enhance melanoma detection, there is a significant bias towards lighter skin tones. To address this, we propose including skin hue in addition to skin tone as represented by the LOreal Color Chart Map for a more comprehensive skin tone assessment technique. This research highlights the need for diverse datasets and robust evaluation metrics to develop AI models that are equitable and effective for all patients. By adopting best practices outlined in a PRISMA Equity framework tailored for healthcare and melanoma detection, we can work towards reducing disparities in melanoma outcomes.
Melanoma is a sort of skin cancer that starts in the cells known as melanocytes. It is more dangerous than other types of skin cancer because it can spread to other organs. Melanoma can be fatal if it spreads to other parts of the body. Early detection is the key to cure, but it requires the skills of skilled doctors to diagnose it. This paper presents a system that combines deep learning techniques with established transfer learning methods to enable skin lesions classification and diagnosis of melanoma skin lesions. Using Convolutional Neural Networks, it presents a method for categorizing melanoma images into benign and malignant images in this research (CNNs). Researchers used 'Deep Learning' techniques to train an expansive number of photos & essentially to get the expected result deep neural networks to need to be trained with a huge number of parameters as dermoscopic images are sensitive & very hard to classify. This paper, has been emphasized building models with less complexity and comparatively better accuracy with limited datasets & partially fewer deep networks so that the system can predict Melanoma at ease from input dermoscopic images as correctly as pos
This paper introduces a set of cepstrum-based texture features for melanoma classification and validates their performance on dermoscopic images from the ISIC 2019 dataset. We propose applying gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) statistics to 2D cepstral representations, a novel approach in image analysis. Combined with established handcrafted lesion descriptors, these features were evaluated using XGBoost models. Incorporating select cepstral features improved the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, accuracy, and F1 score for binary melanoma vs. nevus classification. Results suggest that cepstral GLCM features offer complementary discriminatory information for melanoma detection.
Melanoma segmentation in Whole Slide Images (WSIs) is useful for prognosis and the measurement of crucial prognostic factors such as Breslow depth and primary invasive tumor size. In this paper, we present a novel approach that uses the Segment Anything Model (SAM) for automatic melanoma segmentation in microscopy slide images. Our method employs an initial semantic segmentation model to generate preliminary segmentation masks that are then used to prompt SAM. We design a dynamic prompting strategy that uses a combination of centroid and grid prompts to achieve optimal coverage of the super high-resolution slide images while maintaining the quality of generated prompts. To optimize for invasive melanoma segmentation, we further refine the prompt generation process by implementing in-situ melanoma detection and low-confidence region filtering. We select Segformer as the initial segmentation model and EfficientSAM as the segment anything model for parameter-efficient fine-tuning. Our experimental results demonstrate that this approach not only surpasses other state-of-the-art melanoma segmentation methods but also significantly outperforms the baseline Segformer by 9.1% in terms of I
In this study, Brillouin spectroscopy was employed to investigate the viscoelastic properties of melanoma cells in vitro. Using a custom-built confocal Brillouin microspectrometer, we obtained Brillouin shifts and full width at half maximum (FWHM) values, enabling the non-invasive assessment of cellular stiffness and viscosity. The Brillouin spectra revealed the biomechanical characteristics of melanoma cells, with measured shifts and FWHM values providing a detailed viscoelastic profile. These findings demonstrate the capability of Brillouin microscopy to probe the mechanical properties of cancer cells at the subcellular level. This technique holds significant potential for advancing cancer research by providing insights into the mechanical behavior of melanoma cells, which could inform the development of diagnostic tools and therapeutic strategies based on cellular biomechanics.
Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer. Uncontrollable growth of melanocytes leads to melanoma. Melanoma has been growing wildly in the last few decades. In recent years, the detection of melanoma using image processing techniques has become a dominant research field. The Automatic Melanoma Detection System (AMDS) helps to detect melanoma based on image processing techniques by accepting infected skin area images as input. A single lesion image is a source of multiple features. Therefore, It is crucial to select the appropriate features from the image of the lesion in order to increase the accuracy of AMDS. For melanoma detection, all extracted features are not important. Some of the extracted features are complex and require more computation tasks, which impacts the classification accuracy of AMDS. The feature extraction phase of AMDS exhibits more variability, therefore it is important to study the behaviour of AMDS using individual and extended feature extraction approaches. A novel algorithm ExtFvAMDS is proposed for the calculation of Extended Feature Vector Space. The six models proposed in the comparative study revealed that the HSV feature vector space for automatic
The paper presents performance of the adaptive domain decomposition finite element/finite difference method for reconstruction of the dielectric permittivity and conductivity functions for 3D real-life melanoma model using measurements of the backscattered electric field at the boundary of the investigated domain. We present several gradient-based reconstruction algorithms which use optimization approach to find stationary point of the Lagrangian. Our computational tests show qualitative and quantitative reconstruction of dielectric permittivity and conductivity functions using realistic model of malign melanoma at 6 GHz in 3D.
Innate resistance to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy remains a major clinical challenge in metastatic melanoma, with the underlying molecular networks being poorly understood. To address this, we constructed a dynamic Probabilistic Boolean Network model using transcriptomic data from patient tumor biopsies to elucidate the regulatory logic governing therapy response. We then employed a reinforcement learning agent to systematically discover optimal, multi-step therapeutic interventions and used explainable artificial intelligence to mechanistically interpret the agent's control policy. The analysis revealed that a precisely timed, 4-step temporary inhibition of the lysyl oxidase like 2 protein (LOXL2) was the most effective strategy. Our explainable analysis showed that this ''hit-and-run" intervention is sufficient to erase the molecular signature driving resistance, allowing the network to self-correct without requiring sustained intervention. This study presents a novel, time-dependent therapeutic hypothesis for overcoming immunotherapy resistance and provides a powerful computational framework for identifying non-obvious intervention protocols in complex biological systems.
Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer. Specifically, melanoma is the cause of 75% of skin cancer deaths, although it is the least common skin cancer. Better detection of melanoma could have a positive impact on millions of people. The ISIC archive contains the largest publicly available collection of dermatoscopic images of skin lesions. In this research, we investigate the efficacy of applying advanced deep learning techniques in computer vision to identify melanoma in images of skin lesions. Through reviewing previous methods, including pre-trained models, deep-learning classifiers, transfer learning, etc., we demonstrate the applicability of the popular deep learning methods on critical clinical problems such as identifying melanoma. Finally, we proposed a processing flow with a validation AUC greater than 94% and a sensitivity greater than 90% on ISIC 2016 - 2020 datasets.