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Skin is the body’s largest organ and first line of defence against disease and injury. Researchers have been working to unlock skin’s secrets so as to help heal, treat and mimic this essential barrier.
This Nature Outlook is editorially independent. It is produced with third party financial support. About this content.
The innovation process in pharmaceutical research is continuously evolving. In the past, companies used to work in a closed model where new ideas and knowledge came mainly within house. This model is no longer sustainable and the pharmaceutical industry is increasingly opening up the innovation model.
Our skin is home to millions of bacteria, fungi and viruses that comprise the skin microbiota. In this Review, Byrd and colleagues discuss recent insights into skin microbial communities, including their composition in health and disease, dynamics between species and interactions with the immune system.
Four transcription factors that specify keratinocyte cell fate, facilitate in vivo reprogramming of wound-resident mesenchymal cells, epithealization and regeneration of skin epithelial tissues in mice.
In this Review, Gilbert and Stephens outline the history of the field of microbiology of the built environment and discuss insights into microbial ecology, adaptation and evolution. They consider the implications of this research, specifically, how it is changing the types of materials we use in buildings and how our built environments affect human health.
The relationship between atopic dermatitis and air pollution has been long debated but has now been connected via the aryl hydrocarbon receptor and its control of skin innervation and the consequent triggering of an itch-scratch response.
There are suspected links between air pollution and atopic dermatitis, but the mechanism has remained unclear. Yamamoto and colleagues demonstrate that air pollutants trigger activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor in the skin, hyperinnervation and an itch-scratch cycle that leads to atopic dermatitis.
Autologous transgenic epidermal stem cell cultures are used to reconstitute almost the entire epidermis of a patient with severe junctional epidermolysis bullosa.
Self-reconstruction of conducting nanostructures assisted by a dynamically crosslinked polymer network enables the fabrication of autonomous self-healable and stretchable multi-component electronic skin.