2021 In the Field Faculty Winner: Skin Care

Chelsea Bennice, Ph.D., Assistant to the Director of the ASCEND Program, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Octopuses, dubbed as masters of disguise, can change their skin color and skin texture in a blink of an eye! But, what else may this smart skin be important for? Current research at FAU’s Department of Biological Sciences is taking a deep dive in examining the bacterial community (aka microbiome) of the octopus’s skin. Scientific SCUBA dives are conducted in FAU’s backyard (Lake Worth Lagoon) to temporarily bring octopuses on board the floating lab, swab their skin for a bacteria sample, and release them back to sea. This unique set of bacteria could play an important role in keeping octopuses, a key player in many marine food webs, healthy.