Meeting theme: Pigment cells come in different flavors and are located in diverse organs and places. Characterized by the production of melanin, one of the functions of melanocytes is to protect organisms from the harmful irradiation of the sun. As for melanocytes in the skin, which reside in the basal layer of the epidermis or within hair follicles, pigmented cells are always in contact with components of the extracellular matrix and with neighboring cells, such as keratinocytes. To survive and to thrive within their environmental niches, melanocytes are stimulated and instructed by paracrine signals providing tight cross-talk. Even in the case of pathological transformation of melanocytes into nevi and melanoma, these cells are still embedded within and interact with their microenvironment in specific ways.
During this upcoming ESPCR meeting, we do not only want to discuss critical signaling, morphogenetic and pathological mechanisms within melanocyte, but would also like to understand how the environment influences and modulates the behavior of melanocytes or melanoma cells.
FINAL PROGRAM AND ABSTRACTS OF THE 17th ESPCR MEETING
