Devices and methods for sampling and profiling microbiota of skin

摘要

Devices and methods for profiling microbiota of skin are described which include a hand-held microbe profiling device including a housing defining an opening, the housing including at least one rotatable component at least partially disposed in the opening defined by the housing, an elongated flexible strip disposed on an outer surface of the at least one rotatable component, the outer surface of the elongated flexible strip positioned to contact one or more regions of a skin surface of an individual through the opening defined by the housing, a location-capture component to detect a location of one or more regions of the skin surface as the elongated flexible strip contacts said one or more regions, at least one sensor component to detect one or more signals emitted or reflected from the elongated flexible strip, and a computing component to associate the location of said one or more regions of the skin surface and the detected one or more signals.

主权项

1. A microbe profiling device comprising:
a hand-held housing defining an opening and including
at least one rotatable component at least partially disposed in the opening defined by the hand-held housing;an elongated flexible strip disposed on an outer surface of the at least one rotatable component, an outer surface of the elongated flexible strip positioned to contact one or more regions of a skin surface of an individual through the opening defined by the hand-held housing, the outer surface of the elongated flexible strip including a microbe-capture region, the microbe-capture region configured to capture at least one type of microbe from said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual;a location capture component including circuitry to determine a location of said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual as the outer surface of the elongated flexible strip including the microbe-capture region contacts said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual;at least one sensor component including circuitry to detect one or more signals emitted or reflected from at least one type of microbe captured on the microbe-capture region of the elongated flexible strip from said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual and to transform the detected one or more signals into a sensor output; anda computing component including a microprocessor, the computing component including circuitry configured to
receive information associated with the location of said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual from the location capture component;receive the sensor output from the at least one sensor component the sensor output including information associated with at least one property of the detected one or more signals emitted or reflected from the at least one type of microbe captured on the micro-capture region from said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual;generate a digital alignment of the location of said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual with the detected one or more signals emitted or reflected from the at least one type of microbe captured on the microbe-capture region from said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual; andreport to a user a microbe profile based on the digital alignment, the microbe profile including a spatial distribution of the at least one type of microbe on the skin surface of the individual.