Devices and methods for sampling and profiling microbiota of skin

Abstract

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.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 .- 106 . (canceled) 
     
     
         107 . 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; 
 a reservoir including a plurality of at least one type of signal-generating element, the at least one type of signal-generating element configured to associate with the at least one type of microbe; 
 at least one sensor component including circuitry to detect one or more signals emitted or reflected from the at least one type of signal-generating element associated with the 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; and 
 a 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; 
 circuitry configured to receive the sensor output from the at least one sensor component, the sensor output including information regarding the detected one or more signals emitted or reflected from the at least one type of signal-generating element associated with the 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; 
 circuitry configured to generate a digital alignment between the location of said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual and the detected one or more signals emitted or reflected from the at least one type of signal-generating element associated with the 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; 
 circuitry configured to generate 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; and 
 circuitry configured to report the microbe profile to a user. 
 
   
     
     
         108 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the reservoir includes a controllable valve. 
     
     
         109 . The device of  claim 108 , wherein the controllable valve is operably coupled to and controlled by the computing component. 
     
     
         110 . The device of  claim 108 , wherein the controllable valve is operably coupled to a switch or button associated with the hand-held housing of the microbe profiling device. 
     
     
         111 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the reservoir includes a controllable valve configured to controllably release at least a portion of the plurality of the at least one type of signal-generating element onto the skin surface of the individual. 
     
     
         112 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the reservoir includes a controllable valve configured to controllably release at least a portion of the plurality of the at least one type of signal-generating element onto the microbe-capture region on the surface of the outer surface of the elongated flexible strip. 
     
     
         113 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the reservoir includes at least one opening, the at least one opening adjacent to at least a portion of the outer surface of the elongated flexible strip, and wherein the outer surface of the elongated flexible strip is positioned to traverse the at least one opening defined by the reservoir to make contact with at least a portion of the plurality of the at least one type of signal-generating element. 
     
     
         114 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the reservoir includes a plurality of at least one type of optical signal-generating element. 
     
     
         115 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the reservoir includes a plurality of at least one type of fluorescent signal-generating element. 
     
     
         116 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the reservoir includes a plurality of at least one type of colorimetric signal-generating element. 
     
     
         117 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the reservoir includes a plurality of at least one type radiofrequency signal-generating element, magnetic signal-generating element, or radioactive signal-generating element. 
     
     
         118 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the reservoir includes a plurality of at least one type of signal-generating element coupled to a specific-microbe binding element to form a signal-generating complex. 
     
     
         119 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the elongated flexible strip is disposed on the outer surface of at least one rotatable disc. 
     
     
         120 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the elongated flexible strip is disposed on the outer surface of at least one rotatable reel. 
     
     
         121 . The device of  claim 107 , further comprising:
 a motor operably coupled to the at least one rotatable component, the motor including circuitry configured to drive rotation of the at least one rotatable component.   
     
     
         122 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the elongated flexible strip disposed on the outer surface of at least one rotatable component is fabricated from one or more of plastic, fabric, cellulose, paper, polymer, gel, or metal. 
     
     
         123 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the microbe-capture region comprises a charged surface on the outer surface of the elongated flexible strip. 
     
     
         124 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the microbe-capture region comprises at least one of an adhesive, an absorbent, or an adsorbent associated with the outer surface of the elongated flexible strip. 
     
     
         125 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the microbe-capture region comprises a biomolecule-binding polymer associated with the outer surface of the elongated flexible strip. 
     
     
         126 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the microbe-capture region comprises a plurality of specific microbe-binding elements associated with the outer surface of the elongated flexible strip, each of the specific microbe-binding elements configured to interact with at least one of the at least one type of microbe captured from said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual. 
     
     
         127 . The device of  claim 126 , wherein at least one of the plurality of specific microbe-binding elements associated with the outer surface of the elongated flexible strip comprises a specific microbe-binding antibody. 
     
     
         128 . The device of  claim 126 , wherein at least one of the plurality of specific microbe-binding elements associated with the outer surface of the elongated flexible strip comprises an anti-16S rRNA ligand. 
     
     
         129 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the microbe-capture region comprises a plurality of specific microbe-binding elements of at least one first type configured to interact with at least one first type of microbe and a plurality of specific microbe-binding elements of at least one second type configured to interact with at least one second type of microbe. 
     
     
         130 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the location capture component comprises an image capture device including circuitry to determine the 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. 
     
     
         131 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the location-capture component comprises a fiducial reader including circuitry to determine the 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. 
     
     
         132 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the location-capture component is operably coupled to the at least one rotatable component. 
     
     
         133 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the at least one sensor component comprises at least one optical sensor component including circuitry to detect one or more optical signals emitted or reflected from the at least one type of signal-generating element associated with the at least one type of microbe captured on the microbe-capture region of the elongated flexible strip. 
     
     
         134 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the at least one sensor component comprises at least one fluorescence sensor component including circuitry to detect one or more fluorescent signals emitted or reflected from the at least one type of signal-generating element associated with the at least one type of microbe captured on the microbe-capture region of the elongated flexible strip. 
     
     
         135 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the at least one sensor component comprises at least one of an electromagnetic sensor component, an electrical current sensor component, a piezoelectric sensor component, a magnetic sensor component, an acoustic sensor component, a radiofrequency sensor component, or a radioactivity sensor component. 
     
     
         136 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the at least one sensor component includes a directed energy source, the directed energy source configured to emit directed energy to elicit one or more signals from the microbe-capture region. 
     
     
         137 . The device of  claim 136 , wherein the directed energy source comprises an electromagnetic energy source. 
     
     
         138 . The device of  claim 107 , wherein the computing component includes
 circuitry configured to identify 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 based on the detected one or more signals emitted or reflected from the at least one type of signal-generating element associated with the at least one type of microbe captured on the microbe-capture region of the elongated flexible strip; and   circuitry configured to report the microbe profile to the user, the microbe profile including the spatial distribution and an identity of the at least one type of microbe on the skin surface of the individual.   
     
     
         139 . The device of  claim 138 , wherein the computing component includes
 circuitry configured to generate a recommended treatment regimen for the individual based on the spatial distribution and the identity of the at least one type of microbe on the skin surface of the individual; and   circuitry configured to report the recommended treatment regimen to the user.   
     
     
         140 . A method of profiling microbiota of skin, comprising:
 releasing at least one type of signal-generating element on to a skin surface of an individual, the at least one type of signal-generating element configured to associate with at least one type of microbe on the skin surface of the individual;   contacting one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual with a hand-held microbe profiling device, the 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, an outer surface of the elongated flexible strip positioned to contact said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual through the opening defined by the housing, the outer surface of the elongated flexible strip including a microbe-capture region, 
 a location capture component including circuitry to determine a location of said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual; 
 at least one sensor component; and 
 a computing component including a microprocessor, the computing component including circuitry; 
   determining a location of said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual with the location-capture component of the hand-held microbe profiling device as the elongated flexible strip including the microbe-capture region contacts said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual and generating a location output, the location output including information associated with the location of said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual;   advancing the elongated flexible strip past the opening defined by the housing of the hand-held microbe profiling device to the at least one sensor component by rotating the at least one rotatable component;   analyzing the microbe-capture region on the elongated flexible strip with the at least one sensor component of the hand-held microbe profiling device to detect one or more signals emitted or reflected from the at least one type of signal-generating element associated with the 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 transforming the detected one or more signals into a sensor output;   receiving the location output and the sensor output with the computing component of the hand-held microbe profiling device and generating a digital alignment between the location of said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual and the detected one or more signals emitted or reflected from the at least one type of signal-generating element associated with the 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;   generating a microbe profile from the digital alignment with the computing component, the microbe profile including a spatial distribution of the at least one type of microbe on the skin surface of the individual; and   reporting the microbe profile to a user.   
     
     
         141 . The method of  claim 140 , further comprising:
 releasing the at least one type of signal-generating element on to the skin surface of the individual from a reservoir associated with the hand-held microbe profiling device.   
     
     
         142 . The method of  claim 140 , wherein determining the location of said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual with the location-capture component comprises
 capturing one or more images of said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual as the microbe-capture region contacts said one or more regions of the skin surface; and   aligning the one or more images of said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual with a reference image of the skin surface of the individual.   
     
     
         143 . The method of  claim 140 , further comprising:
 placing one or more fiducial markers on the skin surface of the individual; and   reading the one or more fiducial markers with the location-capture component to determine the location of the one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual.   
     
     
         144 . The method of  claim 140 , further comprising:
 identifying 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 based on the detected one or more signals emitted or reflected from the at least one type of signal-generating element associated with 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;   adding the identification of the at least one type of microbe to the microbe profile; and   reporting the microbe profile to a user, the microbe profile including the identification and the spatial distribution of the at least one type of microbe on the skin surface of the individual.   
     
     
         145 . The method of  claim 140 , further comprising:
 generating a recommended treatment regimen for the individual based on the microbe profile; and   reporting the recommended treatment regimen to the user.   
     
     
         146 . A method of assessing a microbiota of a skin surface, comprising:
 contacting one or more regions of a skin surface of an individual with a hand-held microbe profiling device, the 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, an outer surface of the elongated flexible strip positioned to contact said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual through the opening defined by the housing, the outer surface of the elongated flexible strip including a microbe-capture region, 
 a reservoir including a plurality of at least one type of signal-generating element configured to be associated with at least one type of microbe; 
 a location capture component including circuitry to determine a location of said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual; 
 at least one sensor component; and 
 a computing component including a microprocessor, the computing component including circuitry; 
   determining a location of said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual with the location-capture component of the hand-held microbe profiling device as the elongated flexible strip including the microbe-capture region contacts said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual and generating a location output, the location output including information associated with the location of said one or more regions of the skin surface of the individual;   advancing the elongated flexible strip past the opening defined by the housing of the hand-held microbe profiling device to the at least one sensor component by rotating the at least one rotatable component;   releasing the at least one type of signal-generating element from the reservoir of the hand-held microbe profiling device and onto the outer surface of the elongated flexible strip including the microbe-capture region and the at least one type of microbe captured thereto;   analyzing the microbe-capture region on the elongated flexible strip with the at least one sensor component of the hand-held microbe profiling device to detect one or more signals emitted or reflected from the at least one type of signal-generating element associated with the 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 transforming the detected one or more signals into a sensor output;   receiving the location output and the sensor output with the computing component of the hand-held microbe profiling device and generating 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 signal-generating element associated with the 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;   generating a microbe profile for the individual from the digital alignment, the microbe profile including a spatial distribution and identity of at least one of the at least one type of microbe captured from the skin surface of the individual with the hand-held microbe profiling device; and   reporting the microbe profile to a user.   
     
     
         147 . The method of  claim 146 , further comprising:
 comparing the microbe profile with a reference microbe profile;   generating a recommended treatment regimen for the individual based on the comparison; and   reporting the recommended treatment regimen to a user.