Setting gold standards for skincare science

The science behind ageing is layered. Cellular and molecular processes across the epidermis and dermis all affect the propensity of skin to sag and wrinkle. Products to promote young-looking skin also vary in effectiveness for different populations.

Here, Rafal Damian Lukasik, head of R&D, Asia-Pacific and China at Avon, outlines his vision. With more than 25 years’ experience in skincare research and product development, he shares how market and consumer insights drive innovations, and how Avon’s patented technologies shape the future of the cosmetics industry.

What are your team’s goals?

Our focus is the point at which beauty, science and technology meet: developing locally-relevant, world-class beauty products. Our multi-disciplinary Shanghai R&D team develops new technology solutions across Avon’s product lines from body and hair care, fragrance to skincare.

As the Asian hub of The Avon Innovation Centre, we focus on key areas of skin health and ageing, such as pigmentation, anti-oxidants, sleep deprivation and hormonal states. We also examine the intrinsic and extrinsic factors of ageing: radiation, pollution, smoking, as well as other environmental stressors and lifestyle patterns.

These lead us to investigate and apply bioactive ingredients following skin penetration and barrier studies, while proving their effectiveness against skin problems, as well as against pollution, oxidants, and free radicals.

How does your team approach these topics?

We want to capture how beauty product consumers differ across the Asian market, from China to the Philippines and India, so that we can translate different needs and consumption patterns into new products.

Our team studies how the signs of the ageing process are different, such as our observation that lines and wrinkles become visible in Asian skin samples later in life, compared to other skin samples. We also keep up to date with the latest industry activity. Seeing beyond today helps unlock the future.

What challenges are associated with these studies?

Quantifying changes in skin pigmentation, pore size, texture, tones, as well as the width and length of wrinkles, is difficult. Conducting specific tests for stages and signs of ageing, and setting up the standards before and after topical application of our products on the skin surface are important to offer effective beauty products.

We are keen to standardize the measurement of product efficacy from in vitro to in vivo studies including consumer perceptions. We begin with bioactive molecules, natural or engineered, as well as technologies with potential. These are tested via monolayer models of skin cells to identify basic biological activities, followed by a 3D tissue model to understand the pathways and mechanisms that enable an ingredient to become active.

What contributes to your success?

Teamwork, external collaboration, and agility are crucial. I am proud to work with the scientific community at Avon to bring results through the very best ingredients and scientific knowledge to global consumers.

We work closely with Avon’s Global Innovation Centre in New York, and with academic partners and scientific institutes.

One of our goals is to ensure that the safety standards and scientific vigour of the pharmaceutical industry are applied to cosmetic science. With one of our ongoing collaborators, Ardeshir Bayat, a clinician scientist specializing in dermatology, skin biology and clinical evaluation at the University of Manchester, we have optimized the gold standard in clinical methodology, including in vivo skin biopsy for the histological evaluation of skin changes before and after treatment. Imaging analyses also provide objective and sensitive detection of changes in skin dermis and epidermis. These enable effective and simultaneous access to all skin layers, and to investigate the biological effect of our skincare technologies.

How are these advances leading to more patented technologies?

Non-natural, non-proteinogenic amino acids (NPAA), for example, have received relatively little attention. Having screened a large library, our team discovered that NPAA may have the potential to benefit skin-related pathways. Among the NPAAs, Protinol^TM demonstrated positive effects upon topical treatment against sagging and wrinkles, and without negative side effects often observed with similar technologies. Following our discovery, we invited Bayat to independently test its underlying mechanisms and relationship with collagen ratio.

Why is the ratio of collagen types III/I important?

Collagen is the most abundant protein and crucial component of human skin. Collagen I and III are formed in human skin in higher levels relative to other types, and maintained in specific proportion relative to one another to support the formation of a strong and healthy skin matrix.

Collagen III is often referred to as ‘newborn / baby collagen’, because it is noted first in the embryonic dermis as a framework on which collagen I is synthesized and organized.

The decrease in collagen III begins earlier in our lives than in collagen I. In fact, the highest ratio of collagen III to I is observed in newborn skin, which gradually decreases with age. Baby skin has the highest ratio of collagen III/I, giving the optimal firmness and elasticity. An increase in this ratio is also observed during wound and burned skin healing for new skin formation.

What does the future of skincare research hold?

As outlined by our Global Chief Scientific Officer, Louise Scott, Avon is on a continual journey to elevate our level of innovation. She has inspired our team to keep challenging the status-quo, and to pursue improvements and discoveries.

Our team will continue to conduct research from different perspectives: sustainability, regenerative dermatology, diagnostics and devices, epigenetics with biomarkers, personalization and customization, neuroscience, big data and predictive modelling.