SINGAPORE - French cosmetics giant L'Oreal Group has opened a research laboratory
in Singapore to study Asian skin.
It wants to bank skin samples from Asian
donors for research and will study their skin physiology as well as new ways to
tackle ageing and pigmentation.
The lab is part of the company's plan to make
its research more international and its scientists will collaborate with
Singapore research groups.
These include the Agency for Science,
Technology and Research (A*Star) and the Mechanobiology Institute at the
National University of Singapore.
The lab's director, Mr Charbel Bouez, said
Singapore is a good fit for the firm because of its vibrant scientific
community and ethnically diverse population.
"These complement L'Oreal's interest in
understanding human skin diversity and in developing new products for our Asian
customers' needs," he added.
The lab will get $3 million a year from its
parent company and employ 17 scientists by June next year.
It currently has 10 scientists, six of whom
are Singaporeans, and is housed at A*Star's Institute of Medical Biology (IMB)
in Buona Vista.
L'Oreal had previously worked with the
institute to find out how to reconstruct Asian skin from cultured cells.
IMB executive director Birgitte Lane said the
local research community can also benefit from the new lab.
"It will allow us to tap each other's
strengths to better understand Asian skin, which will bring about many
applications, from personal care to health-care solutions," she said.
Market researcher Euromonitor said the
Asian-Pacific beauty and personal care industry was worth US$114.3 billion
(S$139 billion) last year, up from US$73 billion in 2008.
The Asian industry is expected to be worth
US$140 billion by 2016.
Feng Zengkun
The Straits Times
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