Human skin consists of a number of different cells. The majority of the top layer of the skin is made up of keratinocytes which are produced constantly and migrate to the surface of the skin where they ‘slough off’ as dead skin.
Melanocytes, the cells which produce pigment in the skin, lie below the keratinocytes at the base of the epidermis (see the figure, click to enlarge). Melanocytes also exist at the root of the hair follicle, in the matrix of the inner root sheath or shaft, and are responsible for giving hair its colour. The dermis, the layer of the skin beneath the epidermis, consists mostly of collagen, elastic tissue and reticulum fibres, along with some specialised nerves and glands. The bases of hair follicles are also embedded in this middle layer of skin.
Stem cells are immature, unspecialised cells which have the ability to develop into other adult cells with a specific function, i.e. skin cells, red blood cells, nerve cells (neurons), etc.
Scarcely a day goes by that the Clinuvel team is not contacted regarding the latest conference: everything from monitoring to manufacturing to marketing is analysed, discussed and disputed across the globe in conference form. It’s impossible – and unwise – for small companies to try to attend all these forums, but it is equally impossible to work in the space without looking outside the office door: there is much to be learned from what others have done or not done to succeed in an industry fraught with failure.
Drug development is time consuming, expensive and fraught with risk. Setting aside commercial considerations, the scientific rational for the use of a drug and its introduction into the clinic requires a deep level of scientific and medical understanding in an environment which is continuously changing. The less common the drug class or clinical indication, the less likely one is to find individual experts who have the capacity to properly evaluate whether a drug is safe and effective for use in a clinical setting. Here one needs to learn while progressing, learning on the job due to lack of precedent.
Cancer Council Australia has launched one of the strongest public attacks to date on the use and regulation of sunbeds in the country. This follows a report that some solarium devices emit UV radiation six times stronger than the sun at midday in Australia.
Held biennially, the Porphyrins & Porphyrias conference (P&P) is the world’s largest gathering on the porphyrias – a group of metabolic disorders causing biochemical disruptions in the pathway of the body which synthesizes haem (heme).
Since our announcement last year that Clinuvel would commence a new 
Have you ever wondered why the palms of your hands and the soles of your feet are lighter than the rest of your skin? Or why the skin in these areas is thicker than on other parts of your body? Researchers from the department of Geriatric and Environmental Dermatology at Nagoya City University in Japan may well have found the answer.
