[Article published in Expression Cosmétiques #88 – JULY/AUGUST 2024]

COSMETOSCIENCES, in partnership with the University of Orléans, the University of Tours, LE STUDIUM, the AgroParisTech
Cosmetology Chair, COSMETIC VALLEY and CNRS, is a cosmetics research programme in the Centre-Val de Loire Region. It brings together a network of 11 academic laboratories, as well as cutting-edge technical platforms to support research projects and facilitate the development and characterisation of cosmetic products and formulations for manufacturers and academic laboratories.

The programme helps position COSMETOSCIENCES as a major player in the Centre-Val de Loire Region, on numerous
collaborative projects (at regional, national, or European level).

Characterisation and identification of bioactive molecules

The SALSA platform in Orléans (ICOA, UMR7311) uses a wide range of techniques to offer services ranging from the extraction using green solvents, to the characterisation of primary metabolites (sugars, amino acids) or specialised metabolites (phenolic acids, flavonoids, terpenes, alkaloids) from complex mixtures using mass spectrometry (MS, HRMS), right through to in tubo activity screening (microplates with UV visible/fluorescence reading). SALSA boasts many MS-coupling techniques (UHPLC, SFC, CE, TLC and GC) for comparing and identifying phytochemical signatures of compounds using both targeted and non-targeted metabolomics approaches, and molecular networks. The fractionation/purification stage can also be performed to study the structure-activity relationship of molecules of interest or to characterise them by NMR.

From Molecular Organization to in Vivo ImagiNG
The MO2VING platform at CNRS Orléans (CBM, UPR 4301 – CNRS) boasts a range of complementary expertise, from molecular characterisation to multi-scale imaging.