Amorepacific R&D Center, together with KAIST, developed an original technology that reverses the aging process in human dermal fibroblasts.
The system’s biology research was conducted in collaboration with a research team led by Professor Cho Kwang-hyun of the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering at KAIST.
The result of the research was published in the online edition of an internationally renowned scientific journal, PNAS, on November 23. (The research article is titled “Inhibition of 3-phosphoinositide–dependent protein kinase 1 (PDK1) can revert cellular senescence in human dermal fibroblasts”.).
As skin cells get older, their ability to divide becomes significantly weakened, slowing down the speed of regeneration and the overall functionality of skin tissue.
They also lose the ability to produce collagen and elastic fibers which, in turn, slows down skin regeneration making the skin thinner, and thus creating wrinkles. In addition, a weak skin barrier causes frequent dryness, itchy skin, and other troubles.
In this industry-university research collaboration, Amorepacific R&D Center and Professor Cho’s team developed a signaling network model for aging skin cells. The joint team ran simulations to analyze the model and discovered a core f that reverses aging in old cells and converts them into younger cells. Using this factor, the team managed to develop an original technology for reverse aging.