Keratify offers a new solution to human skin testing to resolve current limitations of standard laboratory practices.

The primary function of skin is to act as a barrier, yet current human skin models are not able to fully maintain or replicate this key function. Many human 3D skin models are only 60-80% accurate for skin irritance tests and are 5-50 fold more permeable than human skin.

While cosmetic companies are no longer allowed to test on animals due to the 2013 EU cosmetics animal testing ban, pharma can still use animals for R&D of dermatology therapeutics. Yet animal skin is a poor mimic of human skin and can be as little as 59% accurate for some toxicology tests. This is a fundamental problem.

Human skin tissue in the lab deteriorates really quickly. OECD regulatory guidelines stipulate skin should be used within 24 hours for skin absorbance tests.

Our own experiences of attempting to measure key metabolic processes, only to observe them deteriorating within 24h of skin culture, lead us to reconsider human skin culture methodology. As a result, Keratify has created an effective way of maintaining human skin in the laboratory.

Keratify’s platform technology aims to revolusionise human skin testing, resolving the fundamental issues with current standard practices.

We have specifically focused on maintaining whole human skin tissue. Skin is a highly complex tissue, containing many different cell types and appendages, including immune cells, melanocytes, hair follicles and nerve fibres. Maintenance of whole ex vivo human skin provides the complete package of all these component parts, which remains as a challenge for 3D skin models.

We can currently offer our system through bespoke contract research, please contact us if you would like to learn more about our broad range of dermatology services.

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By Keratify