FUTURE PERFECT
Sometimes the biggest innovations come from the tiniest discoveries. Jody Scott reports on the high hopes surrounding stem cell science and what it can do for our complexions.
There are high hopes surrounding stem cell science and what it can do for our complexions.
routine in the not-too-distant future. Your favourite jar of age-reversing serum is almost empty. So you take a small scalpel, prick your finger, transfer a few droplets of blood onto a tiny microchip and courier it via drone to your preferred beauty lab. There, your blood cells will be reprogrammed into baby skin cells, then supercharged in a personalised serum and air-dropped back to you.
For now, it’s a sci-fi scenario that biohackers – and beauty journalists – can only fantasise about. However, recent breakthroughs in biotechnology are keeping our dreams of smooth-skinned immortality alive.
The desire to rejuvenate our skin, repair age-weary bodies, cure disease and sidestep suffering is as old as humankind, but significant scientific breakthroughs this century have given rise to a new era of bio-Technicolored optimism. Maybe, just maybe, eternal youth is not an impossible dream after all?
Immortality remains elusive … for now. But scientists are making steady and promising progress, especially in stem cell research and regenerative medicine.
Hopes surrounding the potential of this research have been high ever since the discovery of human embryonic stem cells in the late 90s. Then in 2007 a team of researchers led by Japanese scientist Dr Shinya Yamanaka discovered how to take any adult cell, such as a skin cell, and reverse-engineer it back to an embryonic blank slate, or pluripotent stage, meaning it can be converted to any type of cell in the body, such as a heart muscle cell, brain neuron or even a killer immune cell that seeks and destroys cancer cells.
The discovery won Dr Yamanaka the 2012 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, shared with the scientist who kick-started the field in 1962 by discovering that the specialisation of cells was reversible. But more importantly, it gave researchers around the globe an unlimited supply of highly versatile induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which can grow and survive indefinitely in culture. This allowed scientists to observe disease mechanisms, trial therapies and test new drugs without harming patients.
But while curing diseases, developing new drug therapies and clinical trials all take time, being able to study cells up close is driving rapid innovation in skincare.
Cosmetics companies are beginning to include plant stem cell extracts in topical creams and serums that aim to help reduce inflammation and rejuvenate ageing skin. LVMH Recherche (the research division of the LVMH group) recently announced that Dior scientists have begun collaborating with Dr Yamanaka’s Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto University to further their research into stem cells and how skin ages.
“Monitoring medical advances to identify the most relevant and be first in applying them to cosmetics: this is the Dior philosophy, now more topical than ever,” says Edouard Mauvais-Jarvis, Dior’s scientific communication and environmental director, adding that Dior Science employs some 400 researchers across a diverse range of 25 scientific disciplines, from botany and biology to dermatology.
Mauvais-Jarvis says while Dior’s own scientists have been collaborating with universities worldwide and researching stem cells for 20 years, the brand’s most recent discovery has been its most revolutionary yet.
Until iPS cells came along, stem cells were difficult to study. So for a long time, scientists believed that our supply of stem cells declined in number with age, leading to a decrease in skin cell function and an increase in the visible signs of ageing. However, this theory was upended after Dior Science reprogrammed skin cells into stem cells to study their lifespan and vitality.
“Contrary to what was thought, stem cells don’t decrease in number over time: they decrease in energy potential,” says MauvaisJarvis. “This decrease goes hand in hand with the decline in all cellular functions and the overall vitality of the face.”
By comparing young stem cells obtained from a 20-year-old donor with stem cells from a 40-year-old donor, Dior Science discovered the stem cells’ energy potential declined by 50 per cent between the ages of 20 and 40.
This decline in stem cell energy impacts on the ability of surrounding skin cells to repair, heal and regenerate, all of which contributes to the ageing process.
Identifying a need to kick-start cellular energy to restore skin’s vital functions inspired the creation of Dior’s latest skincare range, Capture Totale C.E.L.L. Energy.
The new formulations all contain at least 84 per cent natural ingredients and have been bio-fermented for better absorption. The range includes a High-Performance Gentle Cleanser, to remove surface pollution and condition skin; Firming & WrinkleCorrecting Crème and Eye Cream, which are both designed to smooth and strengthen skin; a High-Performance Treatment Serum-Lotion, for age-defying hydration; and the superstar of the collection, a concentrated Super Potent Serum enriched with an enhanced hyaluronic acid to boost penetration, treat skin more deeply and ultimately improve skin firmness.
All of the formulations harness the regenerative powers of extracts from four flowers – Madagascan longoza, Chinese peony, white lily and Chinese jasmine – chosen after Dior ethnobotanists screened 1,667 ingredients for their ability to reactivate vital cell functions for healthier and younger-looking skin.
When blended together, the four flower extracts work in synergy to activate 35 biological processes involved in skin ageing and restore the regenerative power of stem cells.
According to Mauvais-Jarvis, when combined together, the four floral ingredients stimulate the mitochondria (which are like batteries that produce energy inside cells) in stem cells, which in turn up-regulates cellular repair and skin vitality. The patented blend has been bio-fermented to boost potency and penetration into the skin cells.
Dior has been conducting research on cells for 30 years and on stem cells in particular for the last 20 years, tapping into advanced medical technology and applying it to skin. As a result, for three decades Dior’s Capture Totale skincare has constantly evolved to include the latest cutting-edge discoveries about cells, beginning with the first formulation in 1986, which included liposomes – also revolutionary back then – to deliver active ingredients deeper into the layers of the skin.
But Mauvais-Jarvis says exactly how particular ingredients are affecting specific parts of the skin has been hard to measure until now. Having the ability to observe the behaviours and reactions of lab-grown iPS cells has made developing skincare and targeted therapies a much more precise science.
“In real skin it is hard to assess in real life; it is difficult to isolate them, that is why iPS is exciting, because we are able to work on the actual stem cells,” he says.
“The starting point was a cutting-edge scientific discovery for stem cells. This, along with Dior Science’s expertise in floral science, allowed [us] to decode the exceptional regeneration power of these four flowers to create a patented technology that revives vital energy deep beneath the skin.”
In other words, the infinitely small may provide the key to looking infinitely youthful. Or from little things, big things grow …