Modeling Melanogenesis
The process of melanin production and transport to the keratinocytes is a highly regulated process that is affected both by signaling from the body as well as from the environment. Defects in this process are thought to lead to several diseases, among which is vitiligo (pronounced as vhi-tea-lye-go). The experimental research involves working with clinical (human) samples, animal models and in vitro experiments to study the melanogenesis process and try to identify the cause for the differences in normal and vitiligenous skin. Work at NCL involves analysis of the large data that is generated from these studies, and constructing a mechanistic model for the interactions between various cell-types as well as intracellular reactions in each cell-type that is thought to be involved in regulating melanin production.
A multi-institutional team led by Rajesh Gokhale (IGIB) is investigating the molecular mechanism of melanogenesis. The experimental team has set up a clever in vitro system where the pigmentation can be controlled in a cyclic manner. We analyze the high-throughput data generated by such experiments and identify key players. In this process we also identify research problems that require the development of new statistical techniques to identify genes with periodic expression profiles in noisy time-course data. A paper describing this method is available here for personal/academic use. We have applied a simple method for identifying periodically-varying genes to data from the in vitro melanogenesis system, helping identify novel regulators of melanogenesis. The paper describing the results is available here. We also work on mechanism-based models for melanogenesis, and have developed a Boolean model for melanogenesis. We are working on a model that links the molecular mechanism of disease progression to clinical scores and treatment.Â