Skinome and Gutfeeling labs join forces to study skin flora using microbiome sequencing

While many of us are aware of the importance of gut flora for our overall health, the skin microbiome is not as well established. In recent years, the importance of our skin flora (microbiome) has become increasingly well known as it appears to be essential for keeping our skin in a healthy state.

Gutfeeling labs, led by Walter and Hans Fischer, specializes in investigating and sequencing the gut microbiome. Microbiome sequencing means finding out which microorganisms (bacteria, fungi and viruses) live in and on our bodies.

Walter Fischer is a physician, neurosurgeon and associate professor who is as passionate about the microbiome as we are. Walter Fischer's interest in gut flora started with a research study he led on immunotherapy in patients with glioblastoma (brain cell cancer), which was published in the prestigious journal Nature communication in 2018. Based on the results, he became more interested in the microbiome which led to the start of Gutfeeling Labs together with his brother Hans Fischer, associate professor and microbiologist.

A few months ago we started a skin microbiome study together with Gutfeeling Labs led by Walter and Hans Fischer and Linköping University. Our mutual interest is to investigate the skin flora more closely and to understand how skin care affects our skin flora to a greater extent. The results look very interesting. In January we will share the first initial results here on our website.

This project is part of a master thesis with graduate student Emilia Santamaria at Linköping University and Skinome.