L’Oréal and Bakar Labs Join Forces To Advance Bio-Based Cosmetic Testing and Product Development

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L’Oréal today announced a partnership with the University of California (UC) Berkeley’s Bakar Labs, a leading biotech incubator. This collaboration opens up avenues for Bakar Labs’ incubated startups, to benefit from and gain access to L’Oréal’s 3D reconstructed skin models, for free.

This partnership focuses on pioneering the next-generation of beauty products, leveraging L’Oréal’s extensive microbiome science, Bakar Labs’ biotech expertise, and other advanced biological technologies. This forward-looking collaboration aims to redefine the beauty industry landscape, driving innovations that cater to individual needs, improve skin health, and address specific skin concerns with ever-more effective and innovative solutions.

“L’Oréal has been a pioneer of 3D reconstructed skin for over 25 years, establishing alternative solutions for a world without animal testing. Today, we are pleased to power Bakar Labs at UC Berkeley with this L’Oréal proprietary skintech platform to support Bakar’s best-in-class startup ecosystem in their quest for new discoveries. With a fully integrated production of 3D reconstructed skin, we will provide Bakar startups with whatever is needed to achieve their goals,” said Barbara Lavernos, Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Research, Innovation, and Technology at L’Oréal.

Bakar Labs, housed in the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub on the UC Berkeley campus, offers over 40,000 square feet of lab and office space to up to 50 startups at a time. Its diverse community of startups includes companies working in therapeutics, diagnostics, agricultural tech, and food tech.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with L’Oréal and benefiting from their extensive experience in microbiome research and advanced biological technologies,” said UC Berkeley professor David Schaffer, Director of Bakar Labs. “This collaboration will provide valuable resources and expertise to our tenant companies and allow us to work alongside L’Oréal to advance the biotechnology field across the pharmaceutical and beauty industries.”

About L’Oréal

For over 110 years, L’Oréal, the world’s leading beauty player, has devoted itself to one thing only: fulfilling the beauty aspirations of consumers around the world. Our purpose, to create the beauty that moves the world, defines our approach to beauty as inclusive, ethical, generous and committed to social and environmental sustainability. With our broad portfolio of 36 international brands and ambitious sustainability commitments in our L’Oréal for the Future programme, we offer each and every person around the world the best in terms of quality, efficacy, safety, sincerity and responsibility, while celebrating beauty in its infinite plurality.

With 87 400 committed employees, a balanced geographical footprint and sales across all distribution networks (e-commerce, mass market, department stores, pharmacies, hair salons, branded and travel retail), in 2022 the Group generated sales amounting to 38.26 billion euros. With 20 research centers across 11 countries around the world and a dedicated Research and Innovation team of over 4 000 scientists and 5 500 tech and digital professionals, L’Oréal is focused on inventing the future of beauty and becoming a Beauty Tech powerhouse.

More information on https://www.loreal.com/en/mediaroom