Characterization of skin microbiomes in healthy individuals from Washington DC

The human body hosts different microbial communities that co-exist with their host. Extensive research has proven that the diversity of those microbiomes is directly related to human health. The Human Microbiome Project has established what constitutes the baseline diversity (composition and structure) of those microbial communities during health in multiple body organs, including skin face, nose, mouth, gut and vagina. Less is known, however, about the microbiotas living in other exposed areas of the body in healthy subjects. Here I propose to characterize the microbiomes of other superficial skin areas less studied. Towards that aim, we use 16S rRNA high-throughput DNA sequencing and bioinformatics tools of metagenomic analysis.