The Roy Laboratory at the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute integrates clinical insights with molecular technologies to advance melanoma diagnosis and treatment. As a clinician-scientist and dermatopathologist at the McGill University Health Centre, Dr. Simon Roy brings a translational perspective to cancer research at the GCI, diagnosing skin cancers while investigating their molecular mechanisms to improve treatment outcomes.

Prof. Roy's research focuses on understanding epigenetic mechanisms of tumor progression, metastasis, and immunotherapy resistance in rare melanoma subtypes, including acral melanoma, through spatial biology and computational approaches. The laboratory addresses health disparities by studying melanomas that disproportionately affect patients with skin of color.

The lab develops bioinformatic pipelines that integrate genome-wide DNA methylation analysis, spatial gene expression mapping, and protein localization studies to establish mechanistic insights and identify biomarkers. These integrated approaches enable the discovery of therapeutic targets for precision oncology in diverse patient populations.

The laboratory also employs precision-cut tumor slice cultures that preserve the native 3D tumor microenvironment to test drug combinations and model therapeutic responses. This ex vivo platform bridges laboratory discoveries with clinical applications by maintaining the complex cellular interactions found in patient tumors.