This week we had our first discussion about the skin microbiome in our conversation with Dr. Larry Weiss, Chief Medical Officer of AOBiome. AOBiome is a leading company based in Cambridge, MA that is developing treatments for inflammatory skin conditions. They also have a cosmetic product on the market that consists of Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria that the user applies to the skin. We discuss both the cosmetic product as well as AOBiome’s approach to treating skin conditions with Dr. Weiss.

AOBiome is offering listeners of The Microbiome Podcast a 25% discount if you order their product before June 29th. The discount code is ami25. Click here to learn more about the product.

Also, as we discussed on the last episode with Dr. Jacques Ravel, the AMI is sponsoring a citizen science project in which individuals can sequence their vaginal or penile microbiome. To be entered to win a free sampling for Your Private Biome, enter your information here. This will be available for one more week and at that time, we will choose the individuals to receive a free sampling.

On this week’s podcast we discussed:

(2:00) Ritter Pharmaceuticals, a microbiome pharmaceutical company that is working on an oral therapy for reducing lactose intolerance symptoms, filed for a $17 million IPO and is becoming a public company. Read more.
(2:30) Seres Health, a microbiome company working on a therapeutic for treating Clostridium difficile infection, also filed for an IPO for $100 million and received Breakthrough status from the FDA. Read more.
(4:55) A study out of NYU found that wearing contact lenses altered the eye microbiome compared to non-contact wearers. Read the abstract.
(9:31) We talked a bit about AOBiome. Learn more about AOBiome. www.aobiome.com
(11:17) Dr. Larry Weiss gave an overview of the skin microbiome and ammonia oxidizing bacteria.
(13:22) An article out of NYU (led the same scientist who led the contact lens study) that studied a group of aboriginal Amerindians and found that they had perfect skin and still contained ammonia oxidizing bacteria on the skin. Read our blog post about the study.
(16:34) Dr. Weiss discussed the goals of AOBiome and how they are approaching the skin microbiome.
(18:55) AOBiome’s cosmetic product that applies ammonia oxidizing bacteria to the skin. Learn more about the product. There is a discount code for our listeners for 25% off - ami25.
(26:00) Larry mentioned a Ted Talk about combatting smelly armpits. Watch the TED Talk.
(29:18) AOBiome’s therapeutic research areas and specifically acne.
(32:25) Eczema and how the microbiome could be used to treat the condition.
(39:15) Bacterial vaginosis and AOBiome’s approach to this infection.
(42:51) Larry’s career going from a company called CleanWell, an antimicrobial company, to AOBiome, a company that administers bacteria to the body.
(45:25) Hang hygiene and hand washing and Larry mentioned a study from the US Navy that found washing hands lowered the risk for getting a respiratory illness. Read the study.
(50:16) On the aftershow, we discussed hand washing, whether we wear glasses or contacts, and Lebron James and the NBA finals.