06.30.23
L’Oréal today announced a partnership with the University of California (UC) Berkeley's biotech incubator Bakar Labs. The collaboration opens up avenues for Bakar Labs’ incubated startups to benefit from and gain access to L’Oréal’s 3D reconstructed skin models, at no cost.
This partnership focuses on pioneering the next-generation of beauty products, leveraging L’Oréal’s extensive microbiome science, Bakar Labs’ biotech expertise, and other advanced biological technologies, according to the beauty giant. This forward-looking collaboration aims to redefine the beauty industry landscape, driving innovations that cater to individual needs, improve skin health, and address specific skin concerns with ever-more effective and innovative solutions.
“L’Oréal has been a pioneer of 3D reconstructed skin for over 25 years, establishing alternative solutions for a world without animal testing. Today, we are pleased to power Bakar Labs at UC Berkeley with this L’Oréal proprietary skintech platform to support Bakar’s best-in-class startup ecosystem in their quest for new discoveries. With a fully integrated production of 3D reconstructed skin, we will provide Bakar startups with whatever is needed to achieve their goals,” said Barbara Lavernos, deputy CEO in charge of research, innovation and technology at L'Oréal.
For example, companies working with Bakar include ResVita Bio, which focuses on treating skin diseases by engineering topical skin bacteria, and Mekonos, which is creating a proprietary cell-engineering platform, using scalable silicon technology, for hyper-precise ex vivo delivery of molecules into any type of cell. The rest of the companies currently working in Bakar can be viewed here.
"We are thrilled to be partnering with L'Oréal and benefiting from their extensive experience in microbiome research and advanced biological technologies," said UC Berkeley professor David Schaffer, director of Bakar Labs. "This collaboration will provide valuable resources and expertise to our tenant companies and allow us to work alongside L'Oréal to advance the biotechnology field across the pharmaceutical and beauty industries.”
This partnership focuses on pioneering the next-generation of beauty products, leveraging L’Oréal’s extensive microbiome science, Bakar Labs’ biotech expertise, and other advanced biological technologies, according to the beauty giant. This forward-looking collaboration aims to redefine the beauty industry landscape, driving innovations that cater to individual needs, improve skin health, and address specific skin concerns with ever-more effective and innovative solutions.
“L’Oréal has been a pioneer of 3D reconstructed skin for over 25 years, establishing alternative solutions for a world without animal testing. Today, we are pleased to power Bakar Labs at UC Berkeley with this L’Oréal proprietary skintech platform to support Bakar’s best-in-class startup ecosystem in their quest for new discoveries. With a fully integrated production of 3D reconstructed skin, we will provide Bakar startups with whatever is needed to achieve their goals,” said Barbara Lavernos, deputy CEO in charge of research, innovation and technology at L'Oréal.
Bakar Labs
Bakar Labs is housed in the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub on the UC Berkeley campus. It offers more than 40,000 square feet of lab and office space to up to 50 startups at a time. Its diverse community of startups includes companies working in therapeutics, diagnostics, agricultural tech, and food tech.For example, companies working with Bakar include ResVita Bio, which focuses on treating skin diseases by engineering topical skin bacteria, and Mekonos, which is creating a proprietary cell-engineering platform, using scalable silicon technology, for hyper-precise ex vivo delivery of molecules into any type of cell. The rest of the companies currently working in Bakar can be viewed here.
"We are thrilled to be partnering with L'Oréal and benefiting from their extensive experience in microbiome research and advanced biological technologies," said UC Berkeley professor David Schaffer, director of Bakar Labs. "This collaboration will provide valuable resources and expertise to our tenant companies and allow us to work alongside L'Oréal to advance the biotechnology field across the pharmaceutical and beauty industries.”