YORKSHIRE BUSINESS INSIDER4 Oct 2021 21:31
MEDICAL MARVELS
Earlier this year, skincare testing company Labskin UK doubled its lab and office presence at its York Biotech Campus base.
The new space follows an increase in market demand for Labskin’s artificial human-like skin product as a viable alternative to human volunteer studies to test skincare and healthcare products, which haven’t been able to take place because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nicola Kingswell, Labskin’s head of laboratories, tells Insider that the company was spun out from the University of Leeds’ Skin Research Centre back in 2008.
“They developed this model that mimics the epidermis and dermis at the top layers of the skin. The initial business model was just to sell it to customers. Unfortunately, it’s a live, biological product so it doesn’t ship very well. So we moved to being a contract research model in 2018 when we were bought by Deepverge.”
Labskin serves clients around the world, including high-profile corporations such as Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark and Unilever. This work is leveraged through its strong local connections with the likes of Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Bradford – the latter of which Labskin has established a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with.
“One of [Bradford’s] post-doctoral researchers is working with us here. She’s looking to bring melanocytes into our skin model. At the moment Labskin is made from Caucasian skin cells, so we’re looking to bring the melanocytes which give colour. We want to bring those on board so we can create different ethnicity models.”
The company moved to York Biotech Campus in 2014 and its latest expansion has more than doubled its space to over 9,000 sq ft. It has established five new laboratories, including a dedicated Labskin production suite and office space.
The additional labs were introduced so Labskin could expand its services to include polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and gene sequencing. “We’re launching a new business line out of our lab here, called the Skin Trust Club,” says Kingswell. “[The customer] can go on our website or on our app and order a kit and we ship it to their house. They swab their skin on their cheek and send it back to us and we will tell them the composition of their skin microbiome.”
https://www.insidermedia.com/publications/yorkshire-business-insider/yorkshire-business-insider-october-2021/medical-marvels
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