About

Tissa Hata, M.D., is a Clinical Professor of Dermatology at UC San Diego School of Medicine. His research focuses on the role of the skin microbiome, skin barrier function, and the pathophysiology of dermatologic diseases such as atopic dermatitis, rosacea, and acne. He has contributed to establishing the significance of Staphylococcus aureus in dermatologic conditions and exploring microbiome-targeted treatments, including bacteriotherapy and topical therapies. Dr. Hata's work involves investigating the genetic, molecular, and cellular mechanisms underlying skin inflammation and infection, with a particular interest in how skin microbiota influence disease severity and treatment outcomes.

Research topics

• Immunology
• Microbiology
• Biology
• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Cell biology
• Biochemistry
• Dermatology

Selected publications

• 297 Trajectory AD Severity Modeling to Better Define Dupilumab Response: A Framework for Precision Biomarker Discovery

  Journal of Investigative Dermatology · 2025-11-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• 0428 Correlates to barrier function before and after dupilumab treatment

  Journal of Investigative Dermatology · 2025-07-21

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Microbiome as a Potential Target for Treatment and Prevention of Atopic Dermatitis

  Immunology and Allergy Clinics of North America · 2025-08-23 · 1 citations

  reviewSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• 0986 Antimicrobial activity of commonly used topical moisturizers on the survival of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus USA300

  Journal of Investigative Dermatology · 2025-07-21

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Atopic Skin Resists Colonization by Beneficial Bacteria: A First-in-Human Analysis of the Rate of Elimination of Topically Applied Bacteria

  Journal of Investigative Dermatology · 2025-09-24 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Cutaneous Ceramide Synthase 1 (CERS1) Gene Expression is a Biomarker of Staphylococcus aureus Abundance and Severity of Atopic Dermatitis

  Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology · 2024-02-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Topical Ivermectin Treatment of Rosacea Changes the Bacterial Microbiome of the Skin

  Journal of Investigative Dermatology · 2024-10-30 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• CXCL12+ dermal fibroblasts promote neutrophil recruitment and host defense by recognition of IL-17

  The Journal of Experimental Medicine · 2024-02-23 · 46 citations

  articleOpen access

  The skin provides an essential barrier for host defense through rapid action of multiple resident and recruited cell types, but the complex communication network governing these processes is incompletely understood. To define these cell-cell interactions more clearly, we performed an unbiased network analysis of mouse skin during invasive S. aureus infection and revealed a dominant role for CXCL12+ fibroblast subsets in neutrophil communication. These subsets predominantly reside in the reticular dermis, express adipocyte lineage markers, detect IL-17 and TNFα, and promote robust neutrophil recruitment through NFKBIZ-dependent release of CXCR2 ligands and CXCL12. Targeted deletion of Il17ra in mouse fibroblasts resulted in greatly reduced neutrophil recruitment and increased infection by S. aureus. Analogous human CXCL12+ fibroblast subsets abundantly express neutrophil chemotactic factors in psoriatic skin that are subsequently decreased upon therapeutic targeting of IL-17. These findings show that CXCL12+ dermal immune acting fibroblast subsets play a critical role in cutaneous neutrophil recruitment and host defense.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 451 Effects of commonly used topical moisturizers on the survival of staphylococcus aureus and staphylococcus hominis A9: Key contributors to the atopic dermatitis microbiome

  Journal of Investigative Dermatology · 2024-07-19

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• CERS1 is a biomarker of Staphylococcus aureus abundance and atopic dermatitis severity

  Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology · 2024-09-27 · 8 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Richard L. Gallo

  University of California, San Diego

  166 shared

• Lisa A. Beck

  Mayo Clinic in Arizona

  110 shared

• Robert A. Swerlick

  Emory University

  90 shared

• Nicole L. Ward

  Vanderbilt University

  83 shared

• Ethan A. Lerner

  81 shared

• Stephen I. Katz

  Trent University

  81 shared

• Kim B. Yancey

  The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

  81 shared

• Janet A. Fairley

  81 shared

Education

• M.D.

  University of California, San Diego