Laura Markey
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lauramarkey.bsky.social
Laura Markey
@lauramarkey.bsky.social
Reposted by Laura Markey
We are on the lookout for postdocs for two different projects at the intersection of ecology, evolution, and the human microbiome.

See thread for more information and reach out!
July 22, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Reposted by Laura Markey
🚨Out now!

About 15,000 pairwise interactions within S. epidermidis from 18 people in 6 families reveal the antagonism and molecular trade-offs that shape the skin microbiota @contaminatedsci.bsky.social @mancusosci.bsky.social #MicrobiomeSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

read here: rdcu.be/et7VP
Intraspecies warfare restricts strain coexistence in human skin microbiomes - Nature Microbiology
About 15,000 pairwise interactions within S. epidermidis from 18 people in 6 families reveal the antagonism and molecular trade-offs that shape the skin microbiota.
www.nature.com
June 30, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Excited to share my new preprint: we show that for lab control and skin samples with low microbial biomass, metagenomics significantly outperforms 16S while DNA extraction method has minimal impact. 🧵 1/4
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Microbiome diversity of low biomass skin sites is captured by metagenomics but not 16S amplicon sequencing
Established workflows for microbiome analysis work well for high microbial biomass samples, like stool, but often fail to accurately define microbial communities when applied to low microbial biomass ...
www.biorxiv.org
June 25, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Laura Markey
Our work on the facial skin microbiome of non-human primates is out in mSystems!

We show there is no close relative of Cutibacterium on the faces of gorillas and chimps at the Lincoln Park Zoo, furthering the mysterious origin of the dominant human skin colonizer.

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
The microbiome of the human facial skin is unique compared to that of other hominids | mSystems
Understanding how and why human skin bacteria differ from our closest animal relatives provides crucial insights into human evolution and health. While we have known that human facial skin hosts disti...
journals.asm.org
May 30, 2025 at 12:14 PM
New pre-print from my grad thesis lab! So excited to see this interesting paper for itself and to see that the gut-Candida-brain arm of the Kumamoto lab continues on
Candida albicans Colonization Modulates Murine Ethanol Consumption and Behavioral Responses Through Elevation of Serum Prostaglandin E2 and Impact on the Striatal Dopamine System https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.25.640044v1
February 28, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Reposted by Laura Markey
Use this form to tell us how the new US administration is affecting your research, or suggest future coverage

https://go.nature.com/4aYn9Me
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Use this form to share information with Nature’s news team, or to make suggestions for future coverage.
go.nature.com
February 15, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by Laura Markey
Excited to share my preprint describing a new microbiome analysis method, PHLAME, for detecting strain-level associations in difficult sample types. 🧵

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

This work was done with my great coauthors and my amazing advisor @contaminatedsci.bsky.social
Intraspecies associations from strain-rich metagenome samples
Genetically distinct strains of a species can vary widely in phenotype, reducing the utility of species-resolved microbiome measurements for detecting associations with health or disease. While metage...
www.biorxiv.org
February 11, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Reposted by Laura Markey
Candida albicans enhance Staphylococcus aureus virulence by progressive generation of new phenotypes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.06.26.600854v1
Candida albicans enhance Staphylococcus aureus virulence by progressive generation of new phenotypes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.06.26.600854v1
Candida albicans and Staphylococcus aureus have been co-isolated from several biofilm-associated dis
www.biorxiv.org
June 29, 2024 at 5:16 PM
Reposted by Laura Markey
Siderophore piracy enables the nasal commensal Staphylococcus lugdunensis to antagonize the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.29.582731v1
Siderophore piracy enables the nasal commensal Staphylococcus lugdunensis to antagonize the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.29.582731v1
Bacterial pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus colonize body surfaces of part of the human popula
www.biorxiv.org
March 2, 2024 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by Laura Markey
We're gearing up for #ASMicrobe in Atlanta! We help 1st-time and solo attendees have better experiences through networking and mentoring Here's a writeup on how it works

blog.addgene.org/binning-sing...
February 6, 2024 at 9:44 PM
Reposted by Laura Markey
Ever wondered about the origin of the bacteria that call our faces home? 🤔 Our new preprint dives into the fascinating dynamics of the human facial skin microbiome (FSM) and explores the natural history of important microbiome species on people at high resolution. 🧫🧵
January 11, 2024 at 5:48 PM
Reposted by Laura Markey
Highly-resolved within-species dynamics in the human facial skin microbiome https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.10.575018v1
Highly-resolved within-species dynamics in the human facial skin microbiome https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.10.575018v1
Human facial skin microbiomes (FSMs) on adults are dominated by just two bacterial species, Cutibact
www.biorxiv.org
January 11, 2024 at 3:19 AM
Excited to announce a new preprint from the Lieberman Lab @contaminatedsci.bsky.social . We use a mouse model to ask: can we use commensal skin bacteria as topical probiotics? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...  [1/3]
December 5, 2023 at 7:21 PM