Biofilm Formation of Skin Resident Microbes in a Sebaceous Environment

Additional Authors

Jennifer V. Hall, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN Mun Su Rhee, Department of Biological Sciences, Crown Laboratories, Johnson City, TN Thomas M. Hitchcock, Department of Scientific Affairs, Crown Laboratories, Dallas, TX

Abstract

The human skin is home to a diverse ensemble of microorganisms that are either beneficial or harmless to their host. These commensal microbes play a role in maintaining homeostasis of the skin which is important for overall skin health and protection, making them an important area of study. In a laboratory setting, microbes are generally cultured using conditions optimized for growth. However, microbes can grow and behave differentially depending on their environment. Thus, performing experiments in standard laboratory medium may not provide translatable data. We hypothesize that skin bacteria will differ in growth and biofilm formation when cultured using skin-like conditions. Here, we created human skin-like culture conditions and measured the growth and biofilm formation of multiple skin-resident bacteria compared to laboratory medium. Cutibacterium acnes strains and Staphylococcus species were cultured in either standard or skin-like media, growth was measured on a plate reader, and the amount of biofilm formation was measured using crystal violet assays. We observed that the effect of the skin-like conditions was dependent on the strain of bacteria. S. aureus grew poorly in the lab medium and formed little biofilm compared to the skin-like conditions. In contrast, S. epidermidis and S. hominis showed no changes in growth between conditions, but produced significantly more biofilm in the lab medium condition. Both strains of C. acnes grew significantly better in the lab medium than any other condition, but they differed in biofilm formation. Taken together, these data suggest that the study of skin-resident bacteria should be done in conditions replicating the skin environment in order to provide results that are more useful for medical innovation.

Start Time

16-4-2025 9:00 AM

End Time

16-4-2025 11:30 AM

Presentation Type

Poster

Presentation Category

Health

Student Type

Graduate Student - Doctoral

Faculty Mentor

Regenia Campbell

Faculty Department

Medical Education

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Apr 16th, 9:00 AM Apr 16th, 11:30 AM

Biofilm Formation of Skin Resident Microbes in a Sebaceous Environment

The human skin is home to a diverse ensemble of microorganisms that are either beneficial or harmless to their host. These commensal microbes play a role in maintaining homeostasis of the skin which is important for overall skin health and protection, making them an important area of study. In a laboratory setting, microbes are generally cultured using conditions optimized for growth. However, microbes can grow and behave differentially depending on their environment. Thus, performing experiments in standard laboratory medium may not provide translatable data. We hypothesize that skin bacteria will differ in growth and biofilm formation when cultured using skin-like conditions. Here, we created human skin-like culture conditions and measured the growth and biofilm formation of multiple skin-resident bacteria compared to laboratory medium. Cutibacterium acnes strains and Staphylococcus species were cultured in either standard or skin-like media, growth was measured on a plate reader, and the amount of biofilm formation was measured using crystal violet assays. We observed that the effect of the skin-like conditions was dependent on the strain of bacteria. S. aureus grew poorly in the lab medium and formed little biofilm compared to the skin-like conditions. In contrast, S. epidermidis and S. hominis showed no changes in growth between conditions, but produced significantly more biofilm in the lab medium condition. Both strains of C. acnes grew significantly better in the lab medium than any other condition, but they differed in biofilm formation. Taken together, these data suggest that the study of skin-resident bacteria should be done in conditions replicating the skin environment in order to provide results that are more useful for medical innovation.