Recorded on: Oct 4, 2021 - 2:00 PM CT
Presenter: Howard Epstein, director of technical services, EMD Performance Materials Corporation, Philadelphia, USA
The Human Microbiome is the collection of all the microorganisms living in association with the human body. These microbes are generally not harmful to us, in fact they are essential for maintaining health. They produce certain vitamins that we do not have the genes to make, break down our food to extract nutrients we need to survive, teach our immune systems how to recognize dangerous invaders and even produce helpful anti-inflammatory compounds that fight off other disease-causing microbes. This presentation will focus on the microbiome of skin. Skin relies on a variety of biological mechanisms to maintain health and normal function. These biological mechanisms must work in concert (homeostasis) for optimal health and physical appearance. Proper homeostasis requires an intact skin barrier that protects against environmental, chemical, and pathogenic microbial assault. Skin requires a balance of bacteria and has developed “site-specific” physical, chemical, microbial, and immunological barriers to maintain health and protect against pathogenic microbes. With respect to homeostasis, skin lipids play an important role in maintaining normal function of the dermal barrier. Current research shows that skin lipids have a multi-functional role including forming a protective skin barrier, act as signal agents to the epidermal cells, and serves as a growing medium or bacteriostatic agent for skin flora. Further, the skin microbiome varies across individuals and this variation in part is associated with sebum variation between different individuals. This presentation will discuss the fundamentals of host-microbe interactions, host immune activation and microbe-microbe interactions and the role of lipids as signaling agents of the human microbiome.