Beauty giant L’Oréal has partnered with microbial genomics firm uBiome to advance its research into the skin’s microbiome.
Through the collaboration, the personal care heavyweight hopes to extend its roster of personalised skin care products.
The microbiome is an ecosystem of microbes living in and on the skin.
Consisting of bacteria, viruses, fungi and other micro-ogranisms, the body has its own individual microbiome, which can be beneficial to human health, according to health care professionals site MDedge.
An imbalance of the microbial affects skin health and appearance, causing external issues including acne, eczema, rosacea and psoriasis.
“So many clues about our overall health come from the amazing world of microorganisms,” said Jessica Richman, co-founder and CEO of uBiome.
“L’Oréal is an ideal partner for uBiome’s advance understanding of the skin microbiome will allow us to pave the way for the future of personalised skin care.”
L’Oréal embarked on its study of the skin’s microbiome in 2006, which has contributed to the launch of a number of personalised skin care products from brands including La Roche-Posay and Vichy since 2013.
Guive Balooch, VP of L’Oréal’s Technology Incubator, part of L’Oréal’s Research & Innovation division , said: “At L’Oréal, our goal is to advance scientific research and leverage new technologies to change this relationship, but allowing deeper levels of personalisation.”
He continued: “With the global reach of uBiome’s community of citizen scientists, our two companies will be able to extend out respective research in this space and better understand the interplay between bacterial diversity and skin health.”