Gene therapy
The beauty industry is constantly claiming scientists have created the elixir of youth, and technology in skin care has advanced to the extent that our bathrooms increasingly resemble laboratories. Now boffins at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed a skin-care brand, called Gene (below), that uses the human epidermal growth factor (hEGF).
That may sound shocking, but the creators of this latest miracle product say we shouldn't confuse hEGF with the human growth hormone, which was developed to treat dwarfism and is controversially used by some body builders and sports people to build muscle mass and enhance performance.
Based on Stanley Cohen's Nobel Prize-winning 'discoveries ... in understanding the mechanisms that regulate the growth of cells and organs', hEGF has been used medically on diabetes sufferers, to heal foot ulcers, bedsores and burns and to treat scars.
The creators of the Gene products say they use less than the medical concentration of hEGF in their skin-care range, which 'creates tighter skin cells, pushing the dead outer layer away faster and getting the radiant looking skin closer to the surface. It also lessens the size of the pores, not to dangerous levels but so much so that toxins and dirt cannot penetrate as much'.
Raymond Wong Wan-keung is an associate professor at the university's department of biochemistry. He has been involved in the research of hEGF since the 1980s, when he lived in Canada. He says: 'HEGF is a protein containing 53 amino acids ... it is responsible for the regrowth of the outer layer of our skin: the epidermis. The turnover of epidermal cells slows down when we arrive at middle age; therefore, hEGF may be applied externally to help our epidermis regain growth.'
The professor says Gene products are good for 'people who have attained middle age and have developed fine lines and a dull complexion'. Equally importantly, he claims, 'Use of hEGF for commercial applications has been known since 1997. In these 12 years, I have not come across any side effects.'
Wong says the hEGF technology he has helped to develop has been used in other skin-care products but they are usually very expensive. Now, thanks to the HKUST Entrepreneurship Programme, which finances technology-based business ventures and which has backed the recent research, Gene is 'able to offer the best-quality hEGF at the most competitive price'. A 30-gram bottle of Gene Face Cream, for example, costs HK$430 while a 15-gram tube of eye gel is HK$300.
