"I find that one of the biggest, exploding fields of exciting research in not only cosmetics, but pharmaceuticals has been the field of epigenetics," says Paul Lawrence, director of bioscience research and product development for Biocogent, LLC. Not coincidentally, he's also the co-author on a new three-part series for Cosmetics & Toiletries; Part I debuted in our Nov/Dec 2017 issue, Part II in January 2018 and Part III will roll out in March 2018.
"I find that one of the biggest, exploding fields of exciting research in not only cosmetics, but pharmaceuticals has been the field of epigenetics," says Paul Lawrence, director of bioscience research and product development for Biocogent, LLC. Not coincidentally, he's also the co-author on a new three-part series for Cosmetics & Toiletries; Part I debuted in our Nov/Dec 2017 issue, Part II in January 2018 and Part III will roll out in March 2018.
In this exclusive podcast, Lawrence shares insight on epigenetics and their potential application in cosmetics. Following is an excerpt; click below to hear the full interview.
"Whether we talk about modifying histones with certain de-acetylase inhibitors, which have become popular; or microRNAs, which are certainly a form of epigenetic modification and control . . . these are basically new avenues for us to treat conditions that to date would have been deemed non-druggable."
"I think the whole field of RNA interference and now, its partner field of RNA activation, are very exciting. [We're learning new] things every day. This certainly has a lot of potential to help treat conditions.
"I absolutely think it has real application for cosmetics. If you go beyond the academic, it's just fascinating how much more complicated the control of gene expression is than we thought 20 or 30 years ago.
"mRNAs are particularly interesting to me because, while short-interfering RNAs I’ve used for most of my career as a scientist to investigate a specific gene function, microRNAs have that flexibility where one microRNA might affect multiple genes at the same time. And one of the benefits to that is [many times], the genes under their control are clustered and have similar gene functions, so a single mRNA can provide quite a bang for its buck."
Listen now to the full podcast!
