You wouldn’t think that researchers and students at NSU’s Oceanographic Center would be interested in studying human skin – after all, they are marine biologists and scientists. But that’s not the case at all.
Researchers believe that certain knowledge may be skin deep, and they’ve used that old adage for their new study: “The Skin Deep Microbiome Project.” This is a unique study that is focused entirely on the human skin and what may be living there. What makes it even more interesting is that researchers who normally look at life under the surface of the ocean are turning their attention to landlubbers, specifically, us.
“Our lab has been focused on multiple types of symbiotic relationships – mostly from the sea (sponges, corals etc), for a number of years,” said Joe Lopez, Ph.D., a professor and researcher at NSU. “However, there is a continuum from sea to land, and humans also host their own unique and diverse ‘microbial symbionts.’ These are being studied by the NIH’s Human Microbiome Project, and with this new NSU project, we aim to extend these earlier efforts by conducting a broad, unbiased survey based on volunteer crowd-funding donors.”
Anyone interested can find more information online (www.nova.edu/ocean/microbiome). You’ll find all the information needed – from the donation/participation levels to directions on how to provide skin samples to an FAQ page.
“We’re looking for around 200 or more diverse people – from anywhere and at any age – to participate, but we also are hoping people will support the study with a financial gift even if they don’t want to provide a sample,” Lopez said. “We’re truly thankful for all our benefactors and hopefully this new, exciting project will reach even more who are interested in supporting scientific research.”