Production, isolation and formulation of health beneficial substances from Helichrysum Italicum for application in cosmetic industry

Project presentation

Title: Production, isolation and formulation of health beneficial substances from Helichrysum Italicum for application in cosmetic industry

Project Code: L2-4430

Leading institution: UM FKKT

Principal investigator: prof. dr. Maja Leitgeb 

Partner institutions: UP FAMNIT and Afrodita d.o.o.

Investigator at UP FAMNIT: izr. prof. dr. Dunja Bandelj

Funding organization: Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (ARIS) and Afrodita d.o.o.

Research field (ARIS):
2.02.06 Biochemical engineering
4.06.05 Plant biotechnology
4.03.01 Agricultural plants

Project type: Applied research project

Duration: 1. 10. 2022–30. 9. 2025

The cosmetics market is seeing an increasing demand for cosmetics with predominantly natural ingredients, due to the potential toxicity of artificial preservatives and other ingredients, and the potential to cause various allergic reactions. Natural ingredients exhibit many positive properties, such as antioxidant, antimicrobial and anticancer activity, and therefore represent a great potential for use in cosmetic products. Formulations incorporating natural bioactive ingredients are particularly important in the cosmetic industry due to their potential to increase the durability of cosmetic products, including the maintenance of adequate microbiological quality. The project concerns the use of bioactive active ingredients (AIs) from the incense tree (Helichrysum italicum) grown in Slovenia, with the aim of their formulation and further use in the largest Slovenian cosmetics company Kozmetika Afrodita d.o.o. in their new products and personal care lines.

The project is divided into five work streams: (DS1) Breeding of Adriatic frankincense; (DS2) Isolation techniques and (bio)chemical analysis; (DS3) 'In vitro' and 'in silico' tests of health-promoting substances from H. italicum; (DS4) Formulation of bioactive substances from frankincense; (DS5) Cytotoxicity assessment and characterisation of the response of the transcriptome to the extracts/distillates/isolated bioactive molecules or their formulations; (DS5) Evaluation of the bioactivity of the bioactive substances from H. italicum; (DS5) Evaluation of the bioactivity of H. italicum; (DS5) Evaluation of the bioactivity of H. italicum; (DS5) Evaluation of the bioactivity of H. italicum; (DS5) Evaluation of the bioactivity of H. italicum.