Symrise Teams with Swedish Firm on Probiotic Ingredients

SWEDEN: Symrise and the Swedish bioengineering company Probi are working together on probiotic-based cosmetic ingredients. A team of researchers from both companies is now developing cosmetic ingredients for topical applications that are suitable for particularly sensitive and dry skin.


Probi is known for well documented probiotic health products with excellent clinical documentation. The Swedish company has established an expansive database of bacterial strains. In addition, Probi can produce and supply commercial quantities of probiotics with consistently high quality.


“In our joint project, Probi brings extensive know-how about development and production of probiotic bacteria as well as a library of unique bacterial strains, and Symrise adds the expertise of its cellular, molecular and microbiologists as well as cosmetic formulation know-how,” said Gerhard Schmaus, vice president global innovation cosmetic ingredients at Symrise. “We are convinced that this interdisciplinary collaboration will result in innovative cosmetic ingredients with many benefits, especially for sensitive skin.”


In their research, the groups of scientists led by Dr. Kerstin Holmgren and Dr. Niklas Larson from Probi and Dr. Gerhard Schmaus and Dr. Dominik Stuhlmann from Symrise, are currently focusing on the bacterial genus Lactobacillus. These bacteria are naturally occurring in dairy products, plants, the gastrointestinal system, and on the skin of humans and animals.


“We have already been able to demonstrate the effect of Lactobacilli on human health in numerous studies,” said Holmgren. “We are now looking forward to seeing how the application of probiotic-based products affects the skin.”


One of the researchers’ goals is to develop cosmetics based on Lactobacilli for consumers with sensitive and dry skin.