Why, despite the billions spent on anti-ageing cosmetic development, does a cream or lotion that slows, stops or even reverses ageing in skin and hair remain out of reach? Marketing materials tell us about ‘reducing the appearance of wrinkles’ but how much of this is simply hydration and what about all the bags, sags, loss of elasticity and youthful shine?
To be fair the science challenge is hard arguably involving the same hurdles of understanding as treating cancer or diabetes. Human biology is very complicated, unravelling this complexity to understand how and why we function and malfunction is the major challenge facing medicine, nutrition and anti-ageing cosmetics.
The techniques predominantly deployed in mainstream medical research cannot penetrate the opaque wall that complexity creates. This is the fundamental reason why the elixir against age remains so elusive. Complex biological systems technology unravels the mysteries of complexity and this is why its application to the study of ageing in skin and hair is so exciting. For the first time it provides the potential to lift the lid on how the systems within our cell function, decline with age and how they naturally repair themselves.
Complex systems science, as the title suggests, is the study and analysis of complex systems. Complex systems, being systems with a large number of constituent parts (usually 50 upwards), cannot be interpreted by standard means. For instance studying constituent parts or pathways in great detail (a typical mainstream research approach) will give little or no insight into how the system as a whole operates.
Complex systems biology as a term covers a range of approaches but of these only complex systems science directly addresses and unravels biological complexity. Novia’s scientists have proprietary technology that uses the disciplines of complex systems science to analysis and create new understanding of biological function. They have a proven track record of success in this field.
Human cells typically contain around 5,000 proteins connecting with one another to form systems and sub-systems. By studying the patterns of connections between these proteins, similar large molecules and the genes that create them, fresh insight on how these systems drive biological function can be obtained.
Years of undertaking this systems based analysis has dispelled some widely held myths about biological function. For instance, in our view, a specific gene or protein is not responsible for any given function. The systems containing these genes and/ or proteins may be responsible. Changing a given gene or protein (less protein, more protein, mutated protein) may bring about differences we observe but this is statistically highly unlikely for a single protein or single gene.
Think about it, is a single protein really going to lift a heavy weight or colour your hair? If it was this simple surely we would have found all the answers by trial and error long before now.
What does all this got to do with cosmetics? If we understand the systems by which healthy hair and skin operate we can then appreciate the impact of the environmental damage behind ageing. Included within these systems are those responsible for minimising the impact of environmental damage and repairing it. With the correct analysis, how to boost or feed these repair systems can be pinpointed.
So this is what we are doing. Unravelling the nuts and bolts of how our bodies naturally fight ageing to pinpoint how to boost these repair systems using natural products much in way the right nutrients within our food feed our bodies healthy function. As result we are on the way to generating a new dawn in anti-ageing cosmetics that actually work and can be measured as working. We hope you share our excitement and will join us on our journey.
