Medical research has gone a long way in the last few decades, hence adding a new change of pace in the health industry as well as in the beauty industry. Nowadays, it is difficult to imagine that just 20 years ago, the human genome wasn’t even sequenced yet. That was just the beginning! Now we even have CRISPR and startup businesses designing specific genes and selling them to a wide audience. Also, regarding the struggle of sequencing a human genome in the late ’90s and now people can get their DNA sequenced regarding, for instance, ancestry in one day! Well, the analysis and interpretation do take more than that, but it still shows what leaps ahead are we today in contrast to just 20 years ago. Now that we have set the stage, let’s talk in more detail about the ways that medical research has changed the health and beauty industry.
Gene Expression
Gene expression manipulation is a powerful tool when it comes to the synthesis of the specific proteins that can be further used both in health and in the beauty industry, and the whole process can be done on the industrial scale. Manipulation of gene expression is a very important part of biotechnology, and with the right genomics data and a group of researchers that know how to use it, a variety of proteins can be synthesized for both medical and beauty purposes. This opens many new doors that are there for the industries to exploit further.
What Does it Mean?
If we are going to talk about gene expression and the way it impacts the mentioned industries, we need to understand a couple of things. So, let’s talk about genomics and proteomics for a bit. We have mentioned genome sequencing, and that basically means mapping the exact sequence of the nucleic acids of the DNA/RNA in the entire genome. Now, genes are part of the genome (sets of nucleotides) that can have many different purposes, but to simplify this article, we are going to talk about just one of them – acting as a set of information required for protein synthesis. The process in which proteins are made, starting from genes, is called gene expression. Why is this important? Let’s start by explaining a bit about proteins. Proteins are made out of amino acids sequenced in a way that their DNA or RNA counterparts dictate (remember the gene expression!). The sequence of amino acids further dictates the way that they are going to organize in space which not only further affects their shape, but even more importantly, it dictates their functions as well.
How Does it Work?
Okay, to sum it up, DNA/RNA has genes that are responsible for gene expression and that’s how the proteins are made further on. How does this tie in with the beauty and the health industry? Well, basically, by transforming microorganisms such as yeast or bacteria with a gene coding which results in gene expression and the synthesis for a useful protein. It can be done in mass quantities thanks to bioreactors. Applying this to an industrial scale wasn’t all that possible not so long before.
It is also worth mentioning one more way in which the knowledge about DNA sequencing as well as gene expression, has impacted the beauty industry. Besides protein synthesis, genetic testing can also be used for the evaluation of the ingredients that are optimal for use. The evaluation is based on a gene analysis of the individual in question.
How Do the Mentioned Industries Benefit?
Now that we have explained what proteins are and how to make them, let’s focus on the details just a bit more, and then we will proceed to the specifics when it comes to designer proteins and why are used in the beauty industry and the health industry, and how.
Proteins tend to be active when it comes to their function, in many cases when they interact with other proteins, hence making protein complexes. These complexes are extremely important for a lot of important processes that happen in our bodies. The functions that they can have are numerous: catalysis of different processes, pumping ions across membranes, recognition of signaling molecules (so, receptors), conversion of substances, etc.
Health Industry
The key to exploiting the desired protein properties and mass producing them is the fact that the genes are a universal code. So that way, by using bacteria and yeast as production organisms, the health industry can create human proteins by introducing human genes into the cells of the different species. The result of the genetic engineering that is performed is recombinant proteins (designer proteins) that can have many different uses depending on the protein. This can be used to create specific protein complexes when creating vaccines for instance. Further genetic code expansion can even allow the proteins of interest to be reprogrammed by incorporation of amino acids that generally don’t occur in nature, hence making proteins with entirely new functions! This was already used to create a monoclonal antibody, Herceptin, that is used against breast cancer since it can recognize cancer cells.
Beauty Industry
The same sophisticated techniques used in the health industry to produce proteins are also used in the beauty industry. The implemented genes in our microorganisms are used to make proteins for other purposes. One of the oldest human needs, which traces way back, even in ancient Egypt, is to always look young. One way the beauty industry tackles this need is by mass-producing proteins that are important in the metabolic processes of scar healing, maintaining smooth and flexible skin, reducing wrinkles, etc. Protein TGF-β3 is produced in our bodies while we are young and helps the skin with the aforementioned problems, but it stops being expressed while we grow up. By making the gene for this protein, putting it in a microorganism to express the proteins and mass produce it by using bioreactors, isolating it and putting it in a cream – the skin can absorb the proteins and use it in its metabolism for maintaining the skin and making it look young again.
Even though, whenever we reach a new breakthrough when it comes to research, we feel as if all of the doors are open. In a few years comes a new discovery, making us yet again question what will be next. Science is truly a wonderful thing, and we are yet to see what the future will bring us, but one is certain – it is very exciting!
