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Research partnership aims to deliver new scientific insights into skin care and maintaining healthy skin
The global skin care company Beiersdorf and the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) have entered into a long-term, exclusive partnership. In this collaboration they aim to investigate the role of the skin microbiome in maintaining healthy skin. The goal is to identify natural products produced by microorganisms on the skin that have a positive effect on skin balance. The project is based on extensive data sets on microorganisms that inhabit human skin.
The health of human skin is influenced not only by the body's own cells, but also by a multitude of microorganisms that live on it. If this ecosystem of microorganisms, known as the skin microbiome, and skin gets out of balance, this can have serious consequences for human skin and promote the development of diseases. Accordingly, the skin microbiome is an important starting point for developing innovative skin care products that support the maintenance of healthy skin. The planned collaboration will be based on extensive data sets from HIPS and Saarland University, which contain information on the microbiome of both healthy individuals and patients with various diseases. This data was originally collected with the aim of identifying new active substances against infectious diseases. In cooperation with Beiersdorf, it will now also be used to benefit the field of skin care. HIPS is a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in collaboration with Saarland University.
Prof. Andreas Keller, Head of the HIPS Department "Clinical Bioinformatics" and spokesperson for the PharmaScienceHub: "In our IMAGINE study, published in 2024, we collaborated with Saarland University to collect genetic data on the microbiomes of over 500 test subjects. This is a real treasure trove of data, as the genomes of the individual microorganisms that colonize us contain the blueprints for previously unknown natural products with a wide variety of properties. Together with our partners at Beiersdorf, we now want to filter out precisely those molecules that play a role in skin health and develop them into new products. The PharmaScienceHub offers us the perfect platform and the ideal scientific environment for this."
Prof. Rolf Müller, Scientific Director of HIPS and Head of the Department "Microbial Natural Products": "Over the past 15 years, the HIPS research groups have established a wide range of technologies and resources to advance the development of anti-infective agents. These include laboratory technologies and strain collections as well as software tools and databases. Many of these can also be easily transferred to other areas of research. We are delighted that we can now use some of these together with Beiersdorf to translate our scientific findings into tangible applications outside the field of infection research."
Dr. Gitta Neufang, Chief Research & Development Officer at Beiersdorf: "Microbiome research has a long tradition at Beiersdorf—it began back in 1894 with Prof. Dr. Paul Gerson Unna and remains an important area of research for strengthening our innovative power to this day. With our exclusive partnership with HIPS, we are setting new standards: Together, we are laying the foundation for skin care products that support the skin's natural balance and deepening our understanding of the role of microbial natural substances in maintaining healthy skin. This collaboration is thus part of our strategy to redefine skin care through scientific breakthroughs—for the skin care of the future.”
Dr. Sascha Baumann, Manager/Lab Head – Microbiological Category Support & Skin Health at Beiersdorf: "We are very pleased about the collaboration with HIPS, as we share many common research approaches and goals. Our results to date clearly show that microbial natural products and the underlying microorganisms and microbiomes play a key role in maintaining healthy skin conditions. Together with HIPS, we want to translate these findings into new innovations."
At present, two specific projects in the field of skin microbiome research are planned. Beiersdorf is providing HIPS with the necessary funding to carry out both projects. A cooperation agreement signed in November 2025 forms the basis for the collaboration, which will be expanded to include additional projects in the future.
Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland:
The Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) in Saarbrücken was founded jointly by the HZI and Saarland University in 2009. Scientists at HIPS develop and employ experimental and computational approaches to provide new active substances against infectious diseases, optimise them for use in humans and investigate how they can best be transported to their site of action in the human body. A special focus of the institute is on microbial natural products from soil bacteria and the human microbiota as well as innovative medicinal chemistry-driven approaches. https://www.helmholtz-hips.de/
Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research:
Scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and other locations in Germany study bacterial and viral infections and the body's defense mechanisms. They have in-depth expertise in natural product research and its use as a valuable source for novel anti-infectives. As a member of the Helmholtz Association and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), the HZI conducts translational research to lay the foundations for the development of novel therapies and vaccines against infectious diseases. https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en/
Contact:
Dr. Yannic Nonnenmacher
Scientific Strategy Officer
Phone +49 681 98806 4500
yannic.nonnenmacher@helmholtz-hips.de
https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en/media-center/newsroom/news-detail/hips-and-beier... HZI Press release
Cooperation in microbiome research: HIPS and Beiersdorf AG have entered into a long-term, exclusive ...
Source: Oliver Dietze
Copyright: HIPS/Dietze
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Cooperation in microbiome research: HIPS and Beiersdorf AG have entered into a long-term, exclusive ...
Source: Oliver Dietze
Copyright: HIPS/Dietze
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