Staphylococcus aureus. Photo by Janice Haney Carr, provided by CDC/ Matthew J. Arduino, DRPH, via Wikimedia Commons New findings suggest that commensal bacteria on the skin release molecules that inhibit the skin’s production of pro-inflammatory interleukin (IL)-33, potentially preventing atopic dermatitis (AD) flares. Published in Nature Communications, the findings come from research conducted at the University of Manchester and Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technolog

This laboratory image shows Staphylococcus aureus bacteria streaked in the shape of a sex steroid, like testosterone. The left shape is of wild-type S. aureus, with the lighter halo around the shape indicating hemolysis, or the breakdown of red blood cells, releasing their hemoglobin into the surrounding fluid. The right shape is a quorum-sensing mutant strain of S. aureus, which cannot damage blood cells. Photo courtesy UT Southwestern Testosterone, long implicated in sex-ba

This image shows colonies of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Photo credit: Janice Haney Carr, Jeff Hageman, M.H.S, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have discovered a previously unrecognized mechanism by which Staphylococcus aureus delays wound healing. In a study, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation , the researchers found that quorum sensing—a proces