Joshua Arbesman Laboratory

Research

With a lifetime incidence rising over 12 fold in the last half-century, melanoma rates continue to dramatically rise in the United States, despite significant public health efforts to reduce ultraviolet radiation exposure, the best characterized environmental risk factor. Through the use of targeted cancer panel screening, whole exome & whole genome sequencing we propose to further characterize and/or identify novel genetic risk factors for melanoma. We will correlate this with functional laboratory work examining individual genes to better interrogate their role in melanoma. Using this functional understanding of how a specific gene is responsible for melanoma development, we will design novel preventive therapies to be used in these high risk melanoma individuals.

Selected Publications

Sha J, Gastman BR, Morris N, Mesinkovska NA, Baron ED, Cooper KD, McCormick T, Arbesman J, Harter ML. The Response of microRNAs to Solar UVR in Skin-Resident Melanocytes Differs between Melanoma Patients and Healthy Persons. PLoS One. 2016 May 5;11(5):e0154915.

Conic R, Arbesman J. Melanoma Tumor Characteristics: An Analysis of Mutational Burden and Copy Number Alterations by Patient Age and Stage. Journal of Investigative Dermatology. 2018 May;138(5):1218-1221.

Arbesman J, Ravichandran S, Funchain P, Thompson CL. Melanoma cases demonstrate increased carrier frequency of Phenylketonuria/hyperphenylalanemia mutations. Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research 2018 Jul;31(4):529-533.

Rambhia P, Honda K, Arbesman J. Nivolumab induced inflammation of seborrheic keratoses and verrucal keratoses: A novel cutaneous manifestation. Melanoma Research. 2018 Oct;28(5):475-477.

Rambhia P, Stojanov, I, Arbesman J. Predominance of oral mucosal melanoma in areas of high mechanical stress. 2019 Apr;80(4):1133-1135.