Djenet Bousbaine：Grand Prize Winner of the 2025 NOSTER & Science Microbiome Prize

Today’s guest is Djenet Bousbaine from Stanford University, the 2025 Grand Prize winner of the NOSTER & Science Microbiome Prize. Her essay, “Skin microbiota: the vaccine we were already wearing,” shows how the microbes living on our skin quietly train our immune system. And now, by working with these microbes, her team is pointing us towards the possibility of safe, needle-free vaccines.Djenet Bousbaine The vaccine we all wear: Skin microbiota can be engineered into topical vaccines.Science 389, 37-38 (2025).DOI:10.1126/science.adz0485