MDI Biological Laboratory

04/11/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 04/11/2025 18:30

Publication Is a Milestone for Ph.D. candidate Romain Menard

Education

Publication Is a Milestone for Ph.D. candidate Romain Menard

  • April 11, 2025
Communications Biology publishes MDI Bio Lab study on novel, patented method to inhibit melanin production and melanoma proliferation that shows therapeutic promise for skin disorders

A newly identified use for a compound called ML233 has shown promising results for safely inhibiting melanin production, offering potential new strategies for the treatment of pigment-related skin conditions and at least one type of melanoma.

Conducted under the auspices of MDI Bioscience, a drug-discovery initiative of the MDI Biological Laboratory, the peer-reviewed research marks a crucial step toward addressing an unmet need in dermatology, potentially leading to new therapies for skin disorders such as albinism, vitiligo, melasma, hypo- and hyperpigmentation and melanoma.

It also marks a milestone in the career of Romain Menard, a University of Maine Ph.D. candidate who is embedded in the research group of MDI Bio Lab Principal Investigator Romain Madelaine, Ph.D. This is Menard's first published research, and he is listed as co-first author on the article (alongside Aissette Baanannou, Ph.D.).

In early 2022, Menard and other members of the team were working on an unrelated experiment that involved zebrafish, when they noticed that fish treated with the molecule were losing their skin color. "I thought that was very interesting and I told Dr. Madelaine that I wanted to pursue that, and he said, 'Yes, me too. And if we can repeat it, that would be an important discovery.' "

After further experiments, repetitions and validations, they demonstrated that ML233 was responsible for the pigmentation loss. Menard estimates that it took another 3,000 hours of further experimentation to elucidate how, exactly, ML233 was producing the effect, while assessing its therapeutic potential and whether it would produce observable, negative side effects (it didn't).

Research group leader Romain Madelaine and MDI Bio Lab last year won a federal patent for the novel use of ML233, and MDI Bioscience is now seeking funding to fuel further development for use in skin therapy.

"It's a good thing for my academic career to have an early publication and to be first author," Menard says. "And in a second way, if I decide to go into the biomedical industry or work in both, being associated with a patent and everything we did around the project will also add value to my CV."

He credits Romain Madelaine's mentorship and support from MDI Bio Lab as key to the project's success. And, he adds, the pace of discovery was accelerated thanks to MDI Bio Lab's expertise with animal models, such as the zebrafish, that can produce experimental data more efficiently and quickly than mammalian models such as mice.

"I can't really see this happening any place but MDI Bio Lab," he says.