Dear Dr. Z, I am a postdoctoral fellow working in the research group led by Dr. F. We have recently received a melanin extract from Dr. V. Right now, we are in the process of making melanin thin films. We have decided to follow the procedure described by Bothma et al. (Adv. Mater. 2008, 20, 3539). Dr. V suggested that you could provide us with information about the handling and storage of the melanin. If you have practical experience in the implementation of the protocol described by Bothma et al., could you please be so kind as to reply to the following questions. (1) According to a paper that we found (Bettinger et al. Biomaterials 2009, 30, 3050), the melanin solutions should be spin-coated at 1000 RPM for 60 s. Is this consistent with the experimental conditions that you normally use? (2) Should we keep the melanin solutions at low temperatures or under nitrogen? (3) For how long can a melanin solution be kept? Best regards, X.