Mela-Know-More: Leveraging tissue mechanics to transform the melanoma screening pathway
- Program: Biomedical Engineering
- Course: EN.580.X12 BME Design Team
Project Description:
Melanoma, the fifth most common form of cancer in the United States, is presented as pigmented lesions due to cancerous pigment-producing skin cells. Despite over 100,000 new cases predicted in 2024, the screening process remains inefficient. Dermatologists visually inspect suspicious lesions for subjective characteristics to determine whether to take a biopsy, which introduces racial bias into the examination process and results in 83.3-96.7% of skin biopsies being unnecessary. This leads to heavy burdens for patients, dermatologists, and healthcare systems in terms of time, cost, and associated physical risks. Hence, there exists a substantial need for an objective screening method for melanoma to reduce the rate of unnecessary skin biopsies performed. Various studies have shown a well-established correlation between melanoma lesions and higher tissue stiffness. Here is proposed a method of quantifying skin tissue stiffness in situ to aid in objectifying melanoma screening process.
Project Photo:
Mela-Know-More is a team of undergraduate biomedical engineers working towards measuring the mechanical properties, such as stiffness, of melanoma lesions. In the long term, they hope to use their findings to aid in objectifying the melanoma diagnostic process.
