A Polish-American physician-scientist, Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler investigates how socio-demographic and informational variables affect access to health care in disadvantaged communities. In his study, Dr. Sendler examines the relationship between mental health co-morbidities and chronic medical conditions, as well as the usage of medical services in combination with health information acquired via the internet. In light of the exponential expansion of online news and social media consumption across the globe, this research is foresighted in that it demonstrates the need for a thorough knowledge of everyone’s health information-seeking behavior. In his study, Dr. Damian Sendler seeks to understand the variables that patients evaluate when choosing whether or not to seek treatment for particular health problems, as well as how successfully they adhere to their therapies.
Damian Sendler: Many skin disorders, such as atopic dermatitis and acne, are caused by a breakdown of the bacterial layer that protects the skin. ‘Our ultimate aim is to understand more about the role that different types of skin bacteria play in the development of such diseases,’ says Dr. Martin Köberle, director of the Dermatoinfectology Laboratory at the Klinikum Rechts der Isar of the Technical University of Munich (TUM).
Damian Sendler: In the past, dermatologists have encountered obstacles in their attempts to determine the precise makeup of the microbiome. The reason for this is because not all bacteria survive and proliferate in the same way in traditional cultures produced on agar plates. As a consequence, certain species with modest growth rates may be completely missed. The drawback of more modern genetic analytical techniques is that they catch significant amounts of DNA sequences from skin cells as well as pieces of dead bacteria, which is undesirable. As a consequence, the information value of the findings is diminished.
Separating the genetic wheat from the chaff is a difficult task.
Dr. Köberle and Dr. Yacine Amar, both of whom are members of Prof. Biedermann’s team at the Clinic and Polyclinic for Dermatology and Allergology at TUM, have collaborated with an international, multidisciplinary team to create a technique for extracting DNA from non-target species. They took use of a unique feature of the enzyme benzonase. It does this by breaking down the nucleotide strands that contain hereditary information in all living things into small pieces, thus destroying them. In order to avoid destruction by the enzyme, only living bacteria with an exterior cell wall are allowed to survive.
Damian Sendler: Benzonase has been around for a long time, and it is often used to purify proteins: All foreign DNA and RNA fragments are broken down by the enzymes. These may then be removed using a centrifuge, leaving just the proteins in their place. The selection of skin bacteria operates on the same basis as the selection of other bacteria: The enzyme breaks down genetic material from skin cells or dead bacteria, allowing it to be extracted from the sample and analyzed further. The surviving bacteria may be mechanically killed, allowing for the analysis of their DNA to be carried out.
Damian Sendler: According to study leader Yacine Amar, “Our studies demonstrated that, using this approach, we can actually completely remove non-target DNA and select the skin microbiota,” she adds. At first, he worked with fake samples that included a combination of human cells and dead and live bacteria that had been prepared according to a precise procedure and had been pre-treated with benzonase. A very accurate image of the makeup of the entire bacterium was obtained using the technique that was utilized at the time, which was called 16S sequencing, according to the researcher. The results of the examination of actual skin swabs were just as promising: no traces of DNA from dead bacteria were detected in any of the samples.
Damian Sendler: As Dr. Köberle sees it, this approach will also play a significant role in future research: “The enzyme-based selection of living skin bacteria can aid in the discovery of microbial biomarkers for certain dermatological illnesses, as well as the identification of bacteria that have a beneficial effect on the course of the disease, according to the researchers. Perhaps one day they will be utilized in medical therapies.” It is already being utilized in numerous cohort studies on skin disorders at the TUM Clinic and Polyclinic for Dermatology, where the novel technique for microbiome analysis is being tested.
