Recent Publication: The Skin Microbiome in Health and Disease

A couple of days ago, Elizabeth Grice (my research advisor) and I had a review published in this month's issue of Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine.  The title of our featured piece is "Microbial Ecology of the Skin in the Era of Metagenomics and Molecular Microbiology", and it is all about the skin microbiome in health and disease.  This is an open source article (meaning you can access it for free), and is worth a read because it offers a nice general summary of the skin microbiome.

In short, the paper goes over the history of skin microbial community studies, an overview of how the skin microbiome has been implicated in contributing to health and disease, and some ways our understanding of the skin microbiome has contributed to therapeutic interventions.  We focused primarily on the bacterial, fungal, and viral communities associated with the skin, and how they contribute to health and disease.  We go over potential roles of microbes in diseases including atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, acne, dandruff, and skin cancer.  So go ahead and check it out.

Works Cited

Hannigan GD, Grice EA (2013). Microbial Ecology of the Skin in the Era of Metagenomics and Molecular Microbiology Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a015362

*Journal Cover Source