BASF partners with French biotech firm to develop skin firmness actives
The partnership will see them investigate cell features using CYTOO’s FibroScreen platform, which is based upon a micro-patterning technology that allows the precise control of cell substrate geometry and stiffness.
This will allow the two companies to combine their knowledge and resources to work on new cell-based assays, and look into ingredients that can stimulate the contractility of human fibroblasts and thus improve skin appearance and firmness.
“We are very pleased to be one of the first companies worldwide partnering with CYTOO to validate the effects of innovative skin-based assays on skin firmness,” says Valérie André-Frei, the responsible project manager at BASF.
“Thanks to this cooperation, we are able to strike a new path and identify new compounds that will help our customers to be more successful.”
For CYTOO, it too is happy with the collaboration as it means it can further explore the effect of compounds on fibroblasts in the human skin, with the chemicals company.
“For us, this partnership marks an important milestone. It demonstrates that CYTOO is able to build a win-win relationship with a research team of the world’s leading chemical company to quickly advance research and deliver high-value results,” adds Luc Selig, CEO of CYTOO.
Skin firmness with age
The hopes will be that the partnership will see new anti-ageing ingredients, specifically targeting skin firmness, which helps skin look smooth and radiant at a young age, as the interlinked fibroblasts and the extracellular matrix with its strong network of collagen fibre bundles, provide hold and elasticity.
With age, skin increasingly loses its mechanical stability, collagen levels of the skin decrease and existing collagen is degraded by the enzyme collagenase.
At the same time, the synthesis activities of the fibroblasts, which are important for the collagen production, decline.
In order to improve skin appearance and firmness, collagen and hyaluronic acid fillers are broadly used nowadays in skin care applications, although this is often only a short-term effect.
BASF claims that with this partnership the research will aim to find new actives with a more durable effect on skin firmness.