Fuente: Society for Medicinal Plants Research Lugar: News The InnCoCells project concluded in September 2005 having achieved (and in many cases vastly exceeded) its initial goals to develop sustainable processes based on plants, plant cell and tissue cultures, and agricultural waste streams for the production of scientifically validated cosmetic ingredients. Hundreds of extracts were produced at pilot scale, metabolically profiled, and tested in cell-based and ex vivo assays, and the processes were evaluated by life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis. More than 10 ingredients have already entered commercial development. The project was guided by Stakeholder Group that included the Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research.
InnCoCells was a 4.5-year research project funded by a €7.9 grant from the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme to explore new sustainable pathways for the production of natural and scientifically validated cosmetic ingredients. Many cosmetic ingredients are derived from fossil resources and come with unverified claims of efficacy, but today’s consumers are becoming more conscious of environmentally-responsible sourcing and the need for ingredients with verified activity.
Plants naturally produce many bioactive metabolites with useful properties in the cosmetics industry, including antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, photoprotective and anti-aging activities. The InnCoCells project set out to screen a broad panel of plants to identify potential cosmetic ingredients and then develop sustainable, scalable production processes based on plant cell suspension cultures, organ cultures (hairy roots), aeroponic cultivation in greenhouses, whole plants in fields, and industry waste such as ginger press cake and olive prunings. We screened hundreds of extracts from 60+ plant species, ensuring compliance with regulations covering access and benefit sharing, and generated many bioactive extracts, more than 30 of which showed strong potential in preliminary tests. To be taken forward, the selected plant species had to be suitable for cultivation at pilot or industrial scale using at least one of our platforms and had to maintain the production of bioactive metabolites at scale. The extracts then had to pass stringent safety, stability and efficacy tests based on in vitro and cell-based assays, and the top candidates were then tested in human skin models. Sustainability and competitiveness were confirmed by life-cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis. Our original goal was to bring 10 cosmetic ingredients to the market, and we had exceeded this by the conclusion of the project with many more in the pipeline. The partners directly responsible for the leading ingredients are preparing business models and regulatory documentation for these products.
The successful work in the InnCoCells project was guided by a Stakeholder Group comprising representatives of the cosmetics industry, growers, researchers and end users including the Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research. The Stakeholder Group has helped at each stage of development, from the selection of plant resources to decisions on individual ingredient candidates, and has actively participated in InnCoCells meetings and the project’s dissemination and communication activities. Some of the industrial members of the Stakeholder Group are working as prospective co-development partners whereas other ingredients are being developed for the market by the industrial partners within the InnCoCells consortium.
For further information, visit the project website.
The InnCoCells project received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 101000373.  The project was launched in May 2021 and concluded in September 2005. The project was coordinated by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd and comprised 17 partners (seven research organizations or universities, seven small/medium enterprises, one large industry partner, one non-profit and one association representing the cosmetic industry).
Project coordinator: oksmankm@outlook.com
Der Beitrag InnCoCells – from plant screening to innovative cosmetic ingredients erschien zuerst auf Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research (GA).