Team:Paris Bettencourt/Implementation

skin-microbiome
Quaranskin Epi Flex Epi Grow Epi Glow

Implementation

By setting up the Quaranskin project, we had to read literature on Skin Microbiome and also meet experts in the field. Some discussions with dermatologists during confinement increased our interest in the therapeutic application of synthetic biology to cure skin disorder. Also, we learned that in this context of a pandemic the fact that we need to wash more ofter our hand is a real problem for people who present symptoms of eczema. You can find more information about these discussions on the Human Practices page. From this point we decided to develop the SynDerma project which aims to engineer S.epidermidis, a commensal bacteria of the skin microbiome to control the population growth of pathogenic bacteria, such as S. aureus which, when overgrown, is a factor of eczema. Since no synthetic biology tools were developed to engineer S. epidermidis, we decided to develop a MoClo toolkit, EpiFlex, and a project of growth and electroporation protocol optimization.

What our projects bring to the scientific community?
Quaranskin

The major aim of this study is to answer these questions:

  • Do the social distancing and the changes in hygiene during the COVID-20 pandemic have affected the skin microbiome diversity?
  • Are there some common characteristics (intrinsic or behaviors) that are associated with a specific proportion of S. epidermidis? If yes, which are these characteristics?
  • By looking at the skin microbiome of our database, can we find the characteristics which are, in the literature, associated with eczema symptoms, such as overgrowth of S. aureus population? If yes, does the microbiomes presenting these characteristics do come from individuals with eczema symptoms?