Kambayashi Lab
Principal Investigator: Taku Kambayashi
Institution: University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)
Primary Subfield: Molecular & Cell Bio
Recruitment Status: ✅ Accepting PhD Students ✅ Hiring Postdocs
Research Focus
Summary The skin forms a protective barrier against harmful substances and pathogens that we contact through our immediate environment. Specialized glands in the skin known as sebaceous glands secrete sebum, a lipid-rich substance with anti-microbial peptides (AMPs) that enhances the physical, chemical, and immunologic barrier function of the skin. This proposal describes a 5-year research plan focusing on the novel concept that the skin microbiome regulates a newly described immune-mediated sebum axis as a feedback mechanism to enhance skin barrier function and to create an optimal skin microenvironment. We have recently reported that sebum secretion can be regulated by immune cells in response to a keratinocyte-derived cytokine called thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP). In this process, which we call the immune-sebum axis, TSLP stimulates T cells directly through their TSLP receptor (TSLP-R), which induces their migration to the sebaceous glands to promote sebum secretion in an IL-4/13-dependent manner. We now provide preliminary data suggesting that the trigger of the immune-sebum axis could be the skin microbiome. We find that compared to conventionally raised mice, the skin o…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R01AR082256-04: Skin microbiome regulation of the sebum-immune axis (2026)
- 5R01HL141408-09: JAK1/2 as a Central Regulator of iMCD Pathogenesis and Novel Therapeutic Target (2026)
- 1R01HD119137-01A1: The role of T cells in transgenerational epigentic inheritance (2026)
- 5R01AR082256-03: Skin microbiome regulation of the sebum-immune axis (2025)
- 5R01AR082256-02: Skin microbiome regulation of the sebum-immune axis (2024)
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