Recently, I was invited to speak at the 8th Microbiome R&D and Business Collaboration Congress: Asia in Singapore. When I received the email invitation after a recommendation from a fellow SMiHA member, Dr Alicia Showering, many thoughts went through my mind—from shock to inadequacy and stress. After several heartfelt conversations, I decided this was too big of an opportunity for collaboration, networking, and exposure to new ideas to miss!
This post is an overview of my time at this conference in Singapore, which was funded and supported by the Skin Microbiome in Healthy Ageing network.
After a lengthy flight, Singapore greeted me with a strange sensation (to a Brit!), sunshine, and temperatures of over 30 °C. The conference was situated at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, among numerous medical research and treatment facilities in the bustling centre of the Novena area of Singapore.
The keynotes were delivered by Professor Jeroen Raes of the Rega Institute of Belgium and Dr Cheri Chu of Unilever Global R&D Shanghai. Professor Raes delved into the topic of microbiome profiling in health and disease, highlighting important considerations for any microbiome researcher, from sequencing decisions to next-generation community analyses. Dr Chu discussed modern developments in our understanding of the skin microbiome, focusing on lifestyle and environmental impacts on microbiome composition and their contribution to holistic health.
After a quick break for coffee and pastries, Dr Thomas Dawson Jr gave a fantastic talk about lipid mediators of skin microbiome fungi. He began his talk with a concept I and many others sympathised with: the importance of skin microbiome research in a world dominated by the famous gut microbiome. What followed convinced me that fungi are an important and overlooked resident of the skin.
Before I knew it, it was my turn to present. It was thrilling to have the floor in a room full of skin microbiome experts listening to my research. Here, I discussed the fitness factors underpinning Staphylococcus epidermidis success in the skin microbiome, focusing on bacteriocin-mediated and bacteriocin-independent competition.
The dinner and drinks reception was a fantastic way to round off this amazing set of talks. What followed was a lovely set of chats with other researchers, start-up companies, and conference organisers. This then culminated in some of the best food I have ever experienced at a conference (step up your game, UK conferences!).
I would like to thank again the SMiHA network for facilitating my attendance at the 8th Microbiome R&D and Business Collaboration Congress: Asia. I would seriously encourage any early career researcher in the skin microbiome field to attend global conferences. They are a great way to take an active part in the field and meet future employers and collaborators.
The connections I have made here will hopefully amount to some interesting research in the future!
Keir Nicholas-Haizelden Postgraduate Researcher, University of Liverpool SMiHA Member
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