Skin Microbiome Analysis

Are you looking for skin microbiome analysis?

The skin—the human body’s largest organ—is teeming with microbes: bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses. But compared with other parts of the body, the skin does not support a high-biomass microbiome. Thus, microbiome sampling and sequencing for skin require special knowledge and handling.

Microbiome Insights has developed expertise in the skin microbiome through our work with leading scientists and top commercial organizations. We are here to help you decide on the sampling and sequencing strategies that will capture a picture of skin microbes suitable for answering your particular questions.

Our expertise includes:

Advanced extraction methods for consideration of particularly robust microbes in the system
Total bacterial quantification via qPCR to initially assess the amplification of bacteria in each sample
rRNA gene sequencing to determine, at a high level, the role of various microbes and the shifts in the microbiome over time depending on implementation
Shotgun metagenome sequencing for a higher resolution of both taxonomic and functional outputs
Bioinformatic reporting with a firm understanding of advanced analysis

Services We Offer

rRNA Gene Sequencing of 16S V1-V3, or V4
Total Bacterial Quantification via qPCR (quantitative PCR) for total bacterial content
Shotgun Metagenome Sequencing

Collection

Sampling the skin microbiome with one single swab may limit your volume of DNA to be used on more than one test. To best optimise your downstream process, it is recommended to use two swabs (or one BD DBL CultureSwab II) to maximize your DNA content per sampling session.

Internal validations have shown that skin microbiome recovery is optimized using pre-moistened swabs as compared to dry swabs or skin tapes. This optimization results in overall higher microbial DNA content while minimizing host DNA content. We recommend using the Becton-Dickinson, BBL Cultureswab EZ II (or similar), which includes a double swab encased in a non-breathable transport tube.

Please talk to us if you are using tape or Biore strips for your collections as these are handled differently.

Basic Instructions

Step 1
Dip a fresh swab in a moistening buffer such as saline or distilled water. With one hand, stretch the skin site taut. With the other hand, hold the swab so the shaft is parallel to the skin surface. Apply firm pressure and rub the swab back and forth rigorously 50 times (for 30 seconds).
Step 2
Carefully return the swab to the tube, ensuring that neither the swab, the swab stick nor the vessel touch any surface.
Step 3
Place the tube into a biospecimen bag and freeze until ready to ship.

Protocol

Frozen skin swabs are extracted using the MoBio Powersoil Extraction kit, optimized for extraction using the ThermoFisher KingFisher automated robot. A bead beating step is included in the protocol for increased lysis.

We optimize the amount of starting material used, to improve sequencing yields in low biomass samples, while ensuring sample integrity and minimizing cross-contamination by processing these sample types under laminar flow.

For more information on a particular service please refer to the services section above for quick links.

Resources

Blog post: How to Design a Skin Microbiome Study, Part I: Sampling
Blog post: How to Design a Skin Microbiome Study, Part II: Amplicon Sequencing
Shipping Instructions

Microbiome Insights took over the daunting task of microbiome analysis and I couldn't be more pleased with their expertise and customer service. The report they provided was thorough, clear, and concise. I highly recommend them to anyone that is overwhelmed with the thought of analyzing their own microbiome data.

Allyson Martinez
Research Compliance Coordinator at Texas A&M University

Microbiome Insights

2018-03-08T00:32:25-08:00

Allyson Martinez
Research Compliance Coordinator at Texas A&M University

Microbiome Insights took over the daunting task of microbiome analysis and I couldn't be more pleased with their expertise and customer service. The report they provided was thorough, clear, and concise. I highly recommend them to anyone that is overwhelmed with the thought of analyzing their own microbiome data.

https://microbiomeinsights.com/testimonials/1029/

We use Microbiome Insights because they offer unbiased, expedited, professional services at a reasonable cost and this has streamlined our research. Their expertise in the microbiome gives us confidence in our results and their bioinformatic and statistical support provides us with a comprehensive understanding of the results.

Katherine Cook
Assistant Professor at Wake Forest University

Microbiome Insights

2018-03-08T00:33:05-08:00

Katherine Cook
Assistant Professor at Wake Forest University

We use Microbiome Insights because they offer unbiased, expedited, professional services at a reasonable cost and this has streamlined our research. Their expertise in the microbiome gives us confidence in our results and their bioinformatic and statistical support provides us with a comprehensive understanding of the results.

https://microbiomeinsights.com/testimonials/1031/

"Despite our technically challenging samples, the capabilities offered by Microbiome Insights exceeded my expectations. Their team was very responsive, handling my questions thoroughly and quickly. Their data analysis was rigorous, in-depth, well-explained and annotated, and altogether tremendously helpful."

Aaron Ogden

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Microbiome Insights

2021-03-31T15:26:13-07:00

Aaron Ogden

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

"Despite our technically challenging samples, the capabilities offered by Microbiome Insights exceeded my expectations. Their team was very responsive, handling my questions thoroughly and quickly. Their data analysis was rigorous, in-depth, well-explained and annotated, and altogether tremendously helpful."

https://microbiomeinsights.com/testimonials/4398/

Microbiome Insights offers in-depth microbiome analysis expertise with a team that is ready and willing to help ensure that those new to microbiome analysis can make the most of their studies. They offer support from sample collection and storage to the type of analysis that would be most useful to undertake. It would be hard to find a match for value for the service Microbiome Insights provides, and they are our go-to team when we want to integrate microbiome analysis in our clinical immunotherapy trials.

Shirin Kalyan

Vice President, Scientific Innovation at Qu Biologics

Microbiome Insights

2021-04-29T12:34:29-07:00

Shirin Kalyan

Vice President, Scientific Innovation at Qu Biologics

Microbiome Insights offers in-depth microbiome analysis expertise with a team that is ready and willing to help ensure that those new to microbiome analysis can make the most of their studies. They offer support from sample collection and storage to the type of analysis that would be most useful to undertake. It would be hard to find a match for value for the service Microbiome Insights provides, and they are our go-to team when we want to integrate microbiome analysis in our clinical immunotherapy trials.

https://microbiomeinsights.com/testimonials/4459/

Microbiome Insights' expertise in sequencing, bioinformatics, and microbiome analysis has filled an important capability gap for Amway R&D. The mutually beneficial partnership our companies have has helped us leap frog ahead in microbiome science and technology aimed at nutrition and beauty applications.

Greg Hillebrand, Ph.D.
Global Discovery, Amway R&D

Microbiome Insights

2018-02-05T21:23:03-08:00

Greg Hillebrand, Ph.D.
Global Discovery, Amway R&D

Microbiome Insights' expertise in sequencing, bioinformatics, and microbiome analysis has filled an important capability gap for Amway R&D. The mutually beneficial partnership our companies have has helped us leap frog ahead in microbiome science and technology aimed at nutrition and beauty applications.

https://microbiomeinsights.com/testimonials/190/

“Educating students to develop the skills and knowledge to take a sample from sample collection to data processing is important; however, data processing can always be a bottleneck. After talking with Microbiome Insights, I became interested in their sample-to-data-analysis aspect to alleviate some laboratory burden. Microbiome Insights was fast, accurate, and allowed me to tailor my data outputs to my own needs for publication."

Phillip R. Myer, Ph.D.

The University of Tennessee

Microbiome Insights

2019-06-12T12:11:32-07:00

Phillip R. Myer, Ph.D.

The University of Tennessee

“Educating students to develop the skills and knowledge to take a sample from sample collection to data processing is important; however, data processing can always be a bottleneck. After talking with Microbiome Insights, I became interested in their sample-to-data-analysis aspect to alleviate some laboratory burden. Microbiome Insights was fast, accurate, and allowed me to tailor my data outputs to my own needs for publication."

https://microbiomeinsights.com/testimonials/3263/

From point of initial contact to final bioinformatic report, I was thoroughly pleased with the amplicon sequencing and bioinformatics services provided by Microbiome Insights. Detailed instructions facilitated the cross-border shipment of my samples to the Microbiome Insights facility; turnaround time for the extraction, sequencing and bioinformatics analysis was excellent.

Irene Yang, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor at Emory University

Microbiome Insights

2018-11-22T17:03:57-08:00

Irene Yang, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor at Emory University

From point of initial contact to final bioinformatic report, I was thoroughly pleased with the amplicon sequencing and bioinformatics services provided by Microbiome Insights. Detailed instructions facilitated the cross-border shipment of my samples to the Microbiome Insights facility; turnaround time for the extraction, sequencing and bioinformatics analysis was excellent.

https://microbiomeinsights.com/testimonials/2551/

Microbiome Insights

Are you looking for skin microbiome analysis?

Services We Offer

Collection

Basic Instructions

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Protocol

Resources

Services

Support

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