Earlier this month, biotech beauty brand Mother Science announced the launch of its Molecular Hero Serum formulated with first-to-market novel ingredient Malassezin. As the only currently available product featuring this biotech hero ingredient, Mother Science’s breakthrough innovation is designed to reduce dark spots and even skin tone in all skin types.
To learn more about the formulation and development of Malassezin, its potential impact on manufacturers and suppliers to the cosmetics and personal care product industries, and Mother Science’s plans for further product innovation utilizing this hero ingredient, CosmeticsDesign spoke with Edna Coryell, co-founder and COO, and Dr. Pearl Grimes, Chief Dermatologist at Mother Science for their insights.
Novel ingredient formulation and development
With the launch of the innovation, “we are excited to have patented our proprietary ingredient and exclusively bring Malassezin to the market,” shared Coryell.
The Mother Science team set to work researching and developing novel ingredient Malassezin through a thorough testing process. “We have an extensive formulation process to make sure that every product pushes the boundaries of efficacy and innovation,” she explained.
Utilizing its internal database comprising “an immense amount of data on Malassezin to informs all product R&D,” the team was better able to “understand what product forms and synergistic ingredients will help us develop the most impactful end product,” she said.
Informed by its proprietary information, the research team determined “Malassezin is a naturally occurring molecule found on the skin, and through biotechnology we have been able to recreate it,” stated Coryell.
Dr. Grimes and her team “spent 6 years rigorously studying Malassezin to understand its efficacy and why it works,” she shared, before undertaking a five-month clinical trial which “included facial biopsies along with instrumentation to measure dark spots and VISIA photography at each time point.”
“Through all of our data, we found that Malassezin visibly fades hyperpigmentation in three ways: reducing excess melanin production, decreasing melanin transport to the upper layers of skin, and minimizing melanin transfer to the keratinocyte skin cells,” said Dr. Grimes. “Malassezin is a 10X more powerful antioxidant than Vitamin C that also works to improve the skin moisture barrier,” she added.
From there, the team developed a “process of synthesizing Malassezin and scaling it up, which required an extensive amount of R&D work,” said Coryell. This process was established following “years working with top chemists in the industry to understand how to formulate Malassezin into skincare products” which determined that the molecule “is incredibly stable and does not require special packaging to protect it from light or oxygen,” she said.
Due to the ease of formulation with this stable ingredient, the development team was able to “focus on perfecting the Molecular Hero Serum efficacy and aesthetics.” Additionally, the ingredient was patented by Mother Science co-founder Mike Einziger in 2021.
Launch and future innovation
Mother Science has initially maintained a narrow focus and has launched the brand with just the Molecular Hero Serum as its primary development objective. Initially available for purchase “direct to consumer on our own website, ultimately we’d like to be an omnichannel brand, so we will enter retail at some point,” Coryell stated.
While the launch has maintained a primary focus on solo product Molecular Hero Serum, “since Malassezin is such a powerhouse ingredient, we know we can leverage it in many ways,” she added. Moving forward, the Mother Science team has “several other products in development, all featuring Malassezin, that we will launch in the future,” she shared.