IP Group Plc : Evocutis plc - Opens state-of-the-art skin histology laboratory facilities

Evocutis plc - Opens state-of-the-art skin histology laboratory facilities

13 Jan 2012

New facilities integrate with LabSkin models for animal-free testing of ingredients and products on skin structure.

Evocutis plc (AIM:EVO), the company focussed on advanced laboratory and clinical evaluations of skincare products for the health and cosmetic markets, is pleased to announce the opening of a dedicated Skin Histology Laboratory at their Wetherby site.

The Evocutis Skin Histology laboratory provides services dedicated to cutaneous biology, including sample processing, imaging, reporting and consultancy.

The new laboratory complements Evocutis' existing portfolio of skincare development services of laboratory and clinical testing, and is particularly tightly integrated with the LabSkin™ in vitro skin model production and testing facility. The combination of specialist Skin Histology facilities and testing using LabSkin™ enables customers to conduct animal-free assessments of their ingredients and products for multiple parameters including irritation, penetration, UV damage, and antimicrobial activity.

Dr. Richard Bojar, Chief Scientific Offer of Evocutis, says: "Our Skin Histology Laboratory is equipped with the most advanced sample processing kit, providing our skilled and dedicated staff with state-of-the art facilities. We are now producing highly consistent skin sections from our LabSkin™ model, which produce stunning images of colonising microorganisms. The dedicated Skin Histology Laboratory allows interactive, real-time experimentation that provide customers with innovative and valuable data to support their product development.  Evocutis' on-going R&D programme to develop and expand the range of LabSkin™ models, as a platform for testing skincare products, will enable the Skin Histology Laboratory to provide further services in the future".

Notes to editors

About Evocutis plc

With a rich portfolio of new product opportunities, Evocutis offers antimicrobial and dermatological expertise to the cosmetic, consumer healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.  Being uniquely able to combine research for laboratory testing, advanced skin models and clinical testing, Evocutis offers a complete service for the development of skin care products and ingredients. Through research and testing we enable our clients to advance the discovery of skin care products that actually work.

Offering high quality contract research services, Evocutis specialises in Human Skin Microbiology, tissue culture systems and Human Volunteer and Clinical Dermatology Research. Evocutis has a totally unique full thickness model of human skin (LabSkin™) that allows rapid, cost effective screening of, for example, anti-ageing, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial ingredients and products for use on skin. Additionally, the clinical, human volunteer testing facility that is housed on-site  provides rapid, bespoke evaluation of dermatological products.

When it comes to advanced laboratory and clinical evaluations of skincare products for the health and cosmetic markets, the Evocutis focus is simple: intelligent and specialised R&D input.

About LabSkin™

LabSkin™ is an animal-replacement technology, that emulates living skin tissue and is a high value research and product testing tool for the cosmetic and healthcare industries. It is a full thickness human skin model, comprised of both dermal and epidermal layers, and is produced exclusively and reproducibly on site at Evocutis from primary human cells (keratinocytes & fibroblasts). The model exhibits a fully differentiated epidermal layer, which provides a completely dry surface for tailored testing requirements.

LabSkin™ is highly versatile, and alongside its antimicrobial model, Evocutis is developing models to test anti-ageing and moisturising products. The antimicrobial LabSkin™ model allows testing using pathogenic microorganisms which would not be possible in human clinical studies. In addition, methods have been developed to allow LabSkin™ to be inoculated with skin washings taken directly from human skin, thus providing a step-change in the quality of data possible from a laboratory model.  By benchmarking activity against best-in-class products, the activity of new ingredients and formulations can be assessed for several antimicrobial endpoints, including immediate kill, rate of kill and residual activity. Recent research indicates that our natural microflora is an integral part of our skin and makes a significant contribution to skin health.  LabSkin™ provides a unique living skin surface which is validated for microbial applications and can simultaneously provide information on irritation, penetration, barrier function and skin structure.