It is increasingly realised that the healthy human skin not only relies on a wide diversity of bacteria on its surface but also on a complement of fungi. The bacterial microflora is very variable between individuals and in time, yet little is known about the behaviour of fungi. This project aims to investigate the biodiversity of fungal species on the healthy human skin.
This project has the following specific objectives.
� Assess the fungal biodiversity on the surface skin of healthy human volunteers
� Assess the fungal biodiversity on the surface skin of healthy human volunteers over time
� Assess the fungal biodiversity inside the nose of healthy human volunteers??? (Depending on the literature review)
� Compare this diversity on the same individuals with the fungal diversity in skin pores addressing the question whether or not skin pores constitute different habitats or might function as reservoirs for the recolonisation of the skin surface
� And to compare this diversity on the same individuals with the fungal diversity in or on the hair follicle mite, Demodex spp, addressing the question whether or not follicle mites form a different habitat or might function as vectors or phoretic hosts of fungi in the recolonisation of the skin surface
� The fungal diversity will only be studied at places where there is easy access to follicle mites, i.e., the alae of the nose and the fore head
� The fungal diversity will be assessed through next generation sequencing using the intervening internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) as a molecular marker
Proposed literature review subject
The human mycobiome of the healthy skin
o Describe what is known about the fungal diversity on the human skin
o Describe where on the body the diversity differs
o Describe whether or not the fungal diversity changes over time
o Describe what is known about the fungal diversity of the skin in particular
o Describe what is known about the fungal diversity inside the nose
o Describe what is known about the biology of the most dominant fungal species.
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