Discover Innovation
Interview with Míriam Mateu,
Product Manager at LipoTrue S.L
The need for innovation in the cosmetic market is an ever faster turning wheel. How do you meet this demand?
We always keep an eye on what final consumers are looking for, so that we try to anticipate their needs while trying to push a little further the innovation of our ingredients. There are several ways to innovate in active ingredients, such as in their origin, the technology used to obtain them, the mechanisms of action or even the claims of the in vivo tests.
We have tried to push our limits of innovation by identifying a new species of microorganism, the Alteromonas lipotrueae. This discovery not only has allowed us to obtain a new active ingredient from the fermentation of this microorganism, but also to contribute to the scientific community.
Next to innovation, almost equally important is sustainability. What is your approach here?
We are aware that nowadays sustainability is a key point in cosmetics and it is a challenge that we have accepted. We are committed in reducing our environmental impact by reducing the use of natural resources, water consumption and the use of plastic while optimizing energy efficiency.
Our goal is to also push our limits and continue improving in all the areas of the sustainability: environment, innovation & production, society & ethics
Where are your actives come from?
We have active ingredients from four technology platforms. We offer fragments of proteins and growth factors obtained through biofactories, where mRNA is inserted into the leaves of a plant allowing the synthesis of the protein of interest through transient expression (the plant is not genetically modified). We also have biomimetic and in silico peptides synthesized by solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) and biotechnological ingredients obtained from the fermentation of marine microorganisms. These microorganisms were first collected in extremes environments such as marine plants living in saline habitats, acidic rivers, great depths in the ocean, cold artic waters or an underwater hidden cave preserved for more than 3 million years.
Moreover, a couple of years ago we incorporated our fourth technology platform which is comprised of botanical active ingredients coming from responsible sourcing but also botanical extracts obtained from a technology that use stem cells, what we call Greenology.
You launched V/WA™ at in cosmetics in Barcelona. What does V/WA™ stand for and what are your claims?
V/WA™ is a fully vertically integrated product, completely controlling the three key steps of the process: D/scover, Develop and Del/ver. V/WA™ is the active ingredient obtained from the fermentation of a newly identified Alteromonasspecies: Alteromonas lipotrueae. V/WA™ relaxes expression wrinkles acting along the three steps of neuromuscular communication: neuritogenesis & neuronal migration, synaptic vesicles recycling and muscle contraction. V/WA™ smoothed wrinkles on crow’s feet, the forehead and even those challenging hidden wrinkles that are revealed to the world when smiling or frowning.
Which other new product have you launched?
We have also launched our first cyclic peptide: Poptide™.
As we age, skintropy, the chaos in our skin, increases. Hence, there is an impairment of proper protein folding ending in stress in the cell’s endoplasmic reticulum. Skintropy increases during the day due to gravity and our facial expressions leading to a fluctuation of wrinkles that we call the Wrinkle’s Daily Cycle (WDC) that results in more pronounced wrinkles in the evening. Poptide™ is a cyclic peptide that organizes skintropy improving protein folding and improving the wrinkle daily fluctuation making the skin pop all day long