L'Oreal Forms Partnership as Product Testing Gets Hairier
September 28 2016 - 3:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Nick Kostov
PARIS-Product testing is getting hairier at L'Oreal (OR.FR,
LRLCY).
The French cosmetics giant on Wednesday said that it is
partnering with bioprinting startup Poietis to figure out how to
print a follicle capable of producing hair.
"It will open a really huge area not only to evaluate our new
products but also to acquire new knowledge around hair growth, hair
gain and hair loss," said Jose Cotovio, a director in L'Oreal's
Research & Innovation unit.
The company gave no precise timeframe for when the printed
samples would be able to grow hair, but Fabien Guillemot, chief
executive and chief scientific officer at Poietis, said it would
likely "take more than two years but less than 10."
Under the current technology, bioprinting a hair follicle
involves layering cells using a laser beam. The living biological
tissue created must then be matured for around three weeks before
it can be used in tests.
The idea of "printing" objects, so-called 3D printing, once
seemed outlandish but it has already made the leap from science
fiction to startup. L'Oreal's project with Poietis would come under
the banner of 4D printing--3D printing but with designs that
continue to evolve after manufacture.
So far researchers can take a real hair and once placed in the
right environment allow it to continue to grow for a few days. With
Poietis' help, L'Oreal aims to gain added insight into an earlier
phase of the hair growing process.
In time, printed hair follicles could also have value in a
medical scenario, Mr. Guillemot said.
This isn't the first partnership l'Oreal has signed with a 3D
printing start-up. The company last year joined forces with San
Diego-based firm Organovo as it looks to print samples of live
human skin to test its products.
L'Oreal spent about 3.1% of its revenue, or 794 million euros
$891 million) on research and development last year.
Write to Nick Kostov at nick.kostov@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 28, 2016 04:14 ET (08:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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