New lipid testing technique launched with applications for beauty

Launched by Lipotype GmbH, a German Max-Planck spin-off company, the Lipotype Shotgun Skin Lipidomics Technology has been described as a novel way of investigating skin lipidomes.

“Until recently, investigating skin lipidomes was not a trivial task​,” the company explains. “On one hand, the analytical method needs to have coverage broad enough to encompass the variety of skin lipids, and a throughput allowing for statistically relevant studies. On the other hand the method should be compatible with a convenient sampling technique such as tape stripping​.”

A novel way to test​

The biotech company claims that its new testing technique meets these requirements, opening up a new channel for investigating how the healthy skin lipidome is composed, and how it changes in response to diseases or the application of a drug or cosmetics product.

Skin functionality: what is a lipid?​

The company explains that lipids play a key role in skin barrier function, sitting in the topmost layer of the skin to bind it together.

“Lipids, including mainly a dozen of different ceramide classes, cholesterol and its esters as well as triglycerides, render skin tight, impermeable and elastic. Skin lipid composition is influenced by natural conditions, such as age and gender, but alterations of lipid profiles have been also linked to various diseases, like atopic dermatitis, ichtyosis or Netherton syndrome​,” explains the company.

As a result, being able to measure the impact of cosmetics on lipids forms an important part of testing for a product’s efficiency and safety.

Prof. Kai Simons, CEO of Lipotype, said of the new testing method: “We offer unprecedented throughput of hundreds of samples, absolutely quantified with broad coverage of ceramides, triglycerides and other lipids, and this is all available for samples collected by super-easy tape stripping.”​