MEMBER INFORMATION
Stefan Simon is since 2005 Director of the Rathgen Research Laboratory with the National Museums Berlin. Trained as a heritage scientist, Simon earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich. He served as a Council Member and Vice President of ICCROM, the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property. As Inaugural Director of Yale’s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage and Director of the Yale’s Global
ABM CONFERENCES
Poster Presenter
Microbiome reveals history of human-interactions in the museum - a pilot project
ABM MEMBER EVENTS
PUBLICATIONS + PROJECTS
Lukas M Simon [1], Cecilia Flocco [2], Franziska Burkart [2], Anika Methner [2], David Henke [3], Luise Rauer [4, 5 6], Christian L Müller [6], Johannes Vogel [7], Christiane Quaisser [7], Jörg Overmann 2, Stefan Simon [8]
Microbial fingerprints reveal interaction between museum objects, curators, and visitors
Microbial communities reside at the interface between humans and their environment. Whether the microbiome can be leveraged to gain information on human interaction with museum objects is unclear. To investigate this, we selected objects from the Museum für Naturkunde and the Pergamonmuseum in Berlin, Germany, varying in material and size. Using swabs, we collected 126 samples from natural and cultural heritage objects, which were analyzed through 16S rRNA sequencing. By comparing the microbial composition of touched and untouched objects, we identified a microbial signature associated with human skin microbes. Applying this signature to cultural heritage objects, we identified areas with varying degrees of exposure to human contact on the Ishtar gate and Sam'al gate lions. Furthermore, we differentiated objects touched by two different individuals. Our findings demonstrate that the microbiome of museum objects provides insights into the level of human contact, crucial for conservation, heritage science, and potentially provenance research.