Skin Microbiome in Healthy Ageing (SMiHA)

皮肤是人体最大的器官，是微生物群落的家园，它们通常与人类自身和谐共处。婴儿在出生时就会获得他们的皮肤微生物群。这种高度专业化和多样化的群落存在于所有皮肤部位以及肠道中，实际上通过保持一种友好的微生物屏障来防止感染，防止病原体入侵人体。因此，我们的皮肤微生物群对我们的健康和福祉非常重要。有趣的是，有证据表明，这种微生物群落会随着年龄的增长而改变--我们的皮肤微生物群组成被发现是相当准确地衡量我们的身体年龄的指标。随着年龄的增长，皮肤也会发生变化，这会随着身体部位的不同而变化，比如皮肤变薄、干燥和天然油脂的变化。伴随绝经而来的荷尔蒙的大幅变化会引起皮肤及其微生物群的显著变化，这可能会对女性健康产生重大影响，例如更频繁的尿路感染。非常年长的人可能会患有慢性感染的伤口，这些伤口无法治疗，而儿童的湿疹则会因为病变中的微生物群改变而变得更加严重。我们的挑战是通过我们的网络在将皮肤微生物群与健康老龄化联系起来方面取得进展，并通过与行业合作伙伴合作将其转化为日常产品的创新，在我们的整个生命周期中保持皮肤的弹性和健康。

The skin is the largest organ of the body and is home to a community of microbiota which generally live in harmony with our human selves. Babies acquire their skin microbiome at birth. This highly specialised and diverse community that exist on all skin sites as well as in the gut, actually provide protection from infection by maintaining a friendly microbe shield against the invasion of pathogenic species into the body. Our 'skin microbiome' is therefore very important to our health and wellbeing. Interestingly evidence shows that this microbial community becomes altered with age - and our skin microbiome composition has been found to be quite an accurate measure of our physical age. The skin also changes as we get older, and this varies according to the body site with skin thinning, dryness and changes in natural oils. The substantial hormonal changes that accompany the menopause cause noteworthy alterations in both the skin and its microbiome that can have significant consequences for female health, such as more frequent urinary tract infections. The very elderly can suffer with chronically infected wounds which are resistant to treatment, while eczema in children is made much worse due to the altered microbiome in the lesions. Our challenge is to make progress in linking skin microbiome to health ageing through our network and to translate this into innovations in everyday products by working with industry partners, to maintain the resilience and health of our skin throughout our whole lives.