Scientist awarded for new peptide in anti-ageing research
Attendees at the event in Orléans, France seen Contipro Biotech's scientist Dr. Iva Doleckova pick up the prize for his work with the 'Cellcon' piptide.
According to Doleckova, the active stimulates the production of proteins responsible for intercellular communication in the skin, thereby enhancing the metabolic activity of epidermal cells, and improving its' skin barrier function and hydration.
Its all about the desmosomes...
The key factor with this peptide the scientist points out is the unique effect it has on desmosomes, which are specialized cell junctions playing a pivotal role in the attachment of cells to each other.
In aged skin, Doleckova says desmosomes are down-regulated or prematurely degraded and a lack of cohesion results in dehydrated scaly skin prone to infections.
Contipro is a European company specializing, amongst other things, in the development of new ingredients to combat skin ageing.
Raw materials for the cosmetics industry account for roughly half of the company's revenue and most cosmetic raw material production is exported to Western Europe and the US.
COSM'Innov strives to award the industry for its efforts
According to the organisers of the global cosmetics innovation event, 95 companies and 64 research laboratories attended this year in a bid to gain recognition for their innovative efforts.
In the face of such competition, Contipro's young scientist managed to win the prize for the best scientific work by a researcher up to 35 years of age.
Cosmetic Valley comprises of 800 companies providing around 70,000 jobs and reaping in EUR 18 billion of revenue, seven universities, 200 public research laboratories for 8,000 scientists, and 100 research projects with a budget of approximately EUR 200 million.
The top companies include L'Oréal (via its subsidiaries Maybelline and Yves Saint Laurent), Shiseido (Jean-Paul Gaultier, Issey Miyake, Serge Lutens), LVMH (Christian Dior and Guerlain), and Caudalie.
