{
  "annotation_id": "0d5298f0-f644-44a5-90a4-b2282845650f",
  "date_created": "2026-03-02T18:01:31.605000Z",
  "date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:01:31.605000Z",
  "file_hash": "4db9edff84e5143dac3a3b019eb48e645bf565db6edfd989040ba1f2779657d2",
  "private": false,
  "record": {
    "abstract": "We discuss recent progress towards the establishment of important\nstructure-property-function relationships in eumelanins - key functional\nbio-macromolecular systems responsible for photo-protection and immune response\nin humans, and implicated in the development of melanoma skin cancer. We focus\non the link between eumelanin\u0027s secondary structure and optical properties such\nas broad band UV-visible absorption and strong non-radiative relaxation; both\nkey features of the photo-protective function. We emphasise the insights gained\nthrough a holistic approach combining optical spectroscopy with first\nprinciples quantum chemical calculations, and advance the hypothesis that the\nrobust functionality characteristic of eumelanin is related to extreme chemical\nand structural disorder at the secondary level. This inherent disorder is a low\ncost natural resource, and it is interesting to speculate as to whether it may\nplay a role in other functional bio-macromolecular systems.",
    "arxiv_id": "q-bio/0508034",
    "authors": [
      "Paul Meredith",
      "B. J. Powell",
      "Jennifer Riesz",
      "Stephen Nighswander-Rempel",
      "Mark R. Pederson",
      "Evan Moore"
    ],
    "categories": [
      "q-bio.BM",
      "q-bio.TO"
    ],
    "doi": "10.1039/b511922g",
    "journal_ref": "Soft Matter, 2006, 2(1), 37 - 44",
    "title": "Towards Structure-Property-Function Relationships for Eumelanin",
    "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0508034"
  },
  "schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
  "source": {
    "execution_id": "66c2f78a-3b2e-46da-ba53-9a34d92c19fb",
    "id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
    "type": "Model",
    "variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
    "version": "0.1.0"
  },
  "user_id": 1000002
}