How to Reverse Skin Aging

#1231

spinout company partners with L’Oreal on research to reprogramme ageing cells

A biotech company which specialises in reprogramming ageing cells has partnered with L’Oréal Groupe, the beauty industry leader.

L’Oréal recently announced the new Research Agreement Partnership with University of Exeter spinout company SENISCA yesterday.

The deal was announced as the company unveiled the L’Oréal Longevity Integrative Ecosystem, which it said “merges L’Oréal’s advanced research with an external ecosystem of leading partners in longevity science”.

In a press release, the company yesterday said the agreement with SENISCA would “harness their expertise and proprietary technology to reprogram aged ‘senescent’ cells, which behave differently to young, healthy cells and are a crucial aspect of longevity”.

SENISCA is developing new approaches that reverse how our cells start to decline as we age. As we get older, our tissues accumulate cells that are senescent – meaning they are alive, but do not grow or function as they should. These old cells lose the ability to correctly regulate the output of their genes, and can produce chemicals which promote inflammation, which is known to be implicated in many diseases. The ageing process also affects the way these cells send messages to organs, a process which is also linked to diseases of ageing. SENISCA has identified a novel component of the cellular ageing response and is harnessing this proprietary know-how to reprogram aged cells.

Professor Lorna Harries, of the University of Exeter, who is founder and Chief Scientific Officer of SENISCA, said: “I’m incredibly excited that almost 20 years of my team’s research has resulted in this partnership with L’Oreal, a global leader in skin health and beauty products. This partnership recognises our potential to create new and better ways to slow the ageing process of our cells, which could have benefits for our skin health. Outside of this partnership, we’re also exploring how we can apply our technology to reduce the negative impacts of age-related diseases such as lung disease.”

Company Website:

https://www.senisca.com/

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#1232

I think it’s a really positive sign to see such a large skincare and cosmetics company go all in on this. This is the future.

In search of methods to improve the youthful appearance of skin they are likely to find unique methods of addressing, among other things, AGEs, and this can have deeper ramifications for longevity.

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#1233

Looking at someone like PD Mangan, who is nearing 70 and has really good skin for his age, it’s clearly possible to slow down signs of skin aging. There are also videos of people over 90 years old who have youthful skin; and then there’s that old Connie Chung video when she visited Yuzurihara, Japan and saw people there with excellent skin well into their 90s (you can look it up on YouTube).

It’s worth also looking at the other end of the spectrum, of people who look old for their age, and ask why that is. One example is Bert Jansen, who supposedly holds a record for living the longest following a heart transplant (in his case, he got it back 1984 when he was 17):

He was 57 when that video was taken, but looks much older. It could be due to inflammation from the transplant, or the medicines he takes… or, perhaps the heart donor was a little older than he was back in 1984 (articles say the donor was a “young adult”, which typically means age 18 to 25 or so). If that’s the case, then perhaps it shows that youthful-looking skin is a reflection of more youthful organs, in general. Perhaps aging organs secrete inflammatory compounds – DNA fragments, cytokines, etc. – that impact the skin.

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#1234

New Nature Aging paper titled “Skin Health and Biological Aging” (authors include several leading aging researchers):

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-025-00901-6

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#1235

Do you have the full paper?

#1236

I do, but there is some risk involved in sharing it. Here is the conclusion of the paper:

Aging lies at a crossroads where numerous interlinked factors and physiological outcomes converge. In the context of skin aging, this complexity is magnified due to the skin’s role as both a barrier and an active participant in systemic health. While valuable progress has been made in identifying the hallmarks of aging, translating this knowledge into effective interventions remains a formidable challenge. Developing precise biomarkers and advanced skin models will be essential to bridge the gap between understanding and intervention. Only a holistic and truly geroscientific approach to understand aging, not focused on its individual hallmarks, will allow this field to advance.

The paper doesn’t really say much new, but summarizes some findings from the literature.