Abstract
Most readers of Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research are familiar with the biological/clinical aspects of pigmentation and melanoma. On the other hand, other aspects of pigmentation research, such as the application of melanin nano-particles as novel biocompatible materials, mostly escape their attention. For example, “polydopamine (PDA)” has been attracting an upsurge in interest among material scientists (175 articles published in 2015 compared with 11 in 2010), but not so much among pigment scientists despite the fact that PDA closely mimics “dopamine-melanin” as it is produced by the spontaneous oxidative polymerization of dopamine at a slightly alkaline pH. PDA forms highly adhesive polymeric films which can coat many types of surfaces, and thus PDA-based coating technology is expanding rapidly to include energy applications, sensing, bioengineering, nanomedicine for nanoparticle functionalization, drug delivery and interfacing with cells (d'Ischia et al., 2015). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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