Beauty Goes Bio [Bioengineering - cosmetics

Abstract

The process of fermentation has been used to make alcohol for thousands of years. But now, thanks to developments in bioengineering, the same process - where a microbe such as yeast interacts with a sugar molecule - is being used to create large quantities of ingredients used in the beauty industry. This is important as rare natural ingredients can be squandered to make creams, while some ingredients damage the environment. For example, squalene, which is used in moisturiser, is traditionally collected from the livers of sharks, contributing to millions being killed every year. To solve this environmental problem, and many others, companies genetically engineer yeast and ferments, or feeds, it with sustainably sourced sugarcane, to produce natural, high-performance molecules. Remarkably, these molecules can replicate the molecular structure of natural ingredients from non-sustainable resources or be used to create novel ones. By using bioengineered yeast fed on sugarcane to follow a sequence of chemical reactions that occur in a living organism, companies have created a library of natural molecules that can be used as ingredients for everything from sweeteners for drinks, to cosmetics and fragrances. The article takes a look at some of these ingredients.