Melanoma is a tragic disease that is further complicated because scientists do not completely understand the causes, and this prevents clinicians from giving the most accurate prognosis and effective treatments. In this Melanoma Research Foundation application, a research-oriented medical student will apply a recent biological discovery in skin cancer and transform this discovery into a new prognostic tool. This will be accomplished by analyzing groups of patient biopsies from healthy volunteers to those diagnosed with melanoma using modern state-of-the-art microscopy and advanced statistical methodologies. At the end of this oneyear study, modern insights will be established that provide much needed information about how melanoma develops, and this has great potential to assist clinicians when informing patients on their risk of skin cancer, the likelihood of metastatic disease, and potentially reveal which type of treatment is best for newly diagnosed melanoma patients.