The Max-Planck Institute's spin-off company, Lipotype GmbH, has launched a technology platform to analyze lipidomics in with high-throughput efficiency. The Lipotype Shotgun Skin Lipidomics Technology is applicable for cosmetics claim support, topical drug development and efficacy tesing for dermatological pharmacology and cosmetics.
According to the company, lipidomics is the large-scale investigation of amounts, structures and functions of complete set of lipids (the lipidome) in biological systems, such as cells, body fluids or whole organisms. Lipidomics considers interactions between lipids, as well as their interactions with proteins and other metabolites—down to the level of individual lipid molecules.
Until recently, investigating skin lipidomes was not a trivial task. On one hand, the approach should be broad enough to encompass the variety of skin lipids with throughput that provides statistical relevance. On the other hand, the method should be compatible with convenient sampling techniques such as tape- stripping.
These prerequisites are met with the Lipotype Shotgun Skin Lipidomics Technology platform. As explained by Prof. Kai Simons, CEO of Lipotype: “We offer unprecedented throughput of hundreds of samples, absolutely quantified with broad coverage of ceramides, triglycerides and other lipids, and this is all available for samples collected by super-easy tape stripping.”
“We are excited about new possibilities to include skin lipidomics in the product development process of cosmetics companies as well as for biomarker identification for dermatology,” said Oliver Uecke, Ph.D., Head of Business Development and Finance at Lipotype GmbH.
The development of Lipotype Skin Lipidomics was supported by the German Central Innovation Programme for SMEs.
