L'Oréal has been committed to tissue engineering for almost 30 years and holds unique knowledge and expertise in the field of hair biology. With this exclusive research partnership, L'Oréal and Poietis are giving themselves the means to pursue a new scientific challenge: bioprinting a hair follicle, the small organ that produces hair, using a bioprinter.

This research partnership offers exciting perspectives at a time when conventional tissue engineering technologies remain limited in terms of the complexity of cell patterns.

The laser-assisted bioprinting technology developed by Poietis to produce biological tissue can position cells in 3D with extremely high cellular resolution (on the order of ten microns) and cellular viability (over 95%). This unique bioprinting technology involves successively layering micro-drops of bioinks using a quick scan by a laser beam. The living biological tissue created must then be matured for around 3 weeks before it can be used in tests.

The combination of this exclusive technology with L'Oréal's unique expertise in hair biology could make it possible to create a functional follicle capable of producing hair – that is the ambition of L’Oréal and Poietis.

"We're very proud to be working with L'Oréal. The fact that a world-renowned company is adopting our technology is a major step for Poietis," says Fabien Guillemot, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer at Poietis. "Our partnership with L’Oréal should lead to the development of innovative applications in terms of tissue engineering," adds Bruno Brisson, General Manager and Chief Business Officer.
"For L’Oréal, the combination of our respective areas of expertise opens up the possibility of previously unheard of achievements in the field of hair. This research partnership is very stimulating for the Advanced Research teams," explains José Cotovio, Director of Predictive Methods and Models department, L’Oréal Recherche & Innovation.

Poietis and L'Oréal's multi-annual research partnership in the areas of hair biology and hair engineering should ultimately lead to new advances in hair knowledge and enable the development of exclusive efficacy testing on bioprinted hair samples.

About L'Oréal
L’Oréal has devoted itself to beauty for over 105 years. With its unique international portfolio of 32 diverse and complementary brands, the Group generated sales amounting to 25.26 billion euros in 2015 and employs 82,900 people worldwide. As the world’s leading beauty company, L’Oréal is present across all distribution networks: mass market, department stores, pharmacies and drugstores, hair salons, travel retail, branded retail and e-commerce.
Research and innovation, and a dedicated research team of 3,870 people, are at the core of L’Oréal’s strategy, working to meet beauty aspirations all over the world. L’Oréal’s new sustainability commitment for 2020 “Sharing Beauty With All” sets out ambitious sustainable development objectives across the Group’s value chain. www.loreal.com

About Poietis
Created in September 2014 Poietis (Pessac, France) is a biotechnology company whose mission is to create and develop biological human tissues for research and regenerative medical purposes. Poietis develops physiological 3D models and partners with pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies. These tissue models enable better predictive in vitro evaluation of the toxicity and efficacy of new ingredients for cosmetics or drug candidates. The tissues are produced thanks to laser-assisted bioprinting technology used to design, develop and manufacture biological tissues with microscopic precision and resolution. Winner of the 2014 ILab Contest (French National Competition for Innovative start-up Creation of the Ministry of Research, Creation-Development category) and the 2016 Worldwide Innovation Contest, Poietis is the only company to use this technology initially developed at the INSERM and Bordeaux University. www.poietis.com