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Biotech startup SynFlora<\/a> brought an enticing pitch for a new type of skin treatment technology to 4YFN at the MWC tradeshow in Barcelona this week. The Spanish startup, whose three co-founders all have PhDs, is working to improve understanding of the skin\u2019s microbiome and engineer skin microbes with the goal of enabling more targeted and novel therapeutics.<\/p>\n The basic idea is to deliver treatments in a deeper way than topically applied creams, such as is the case with current-gen \u2018active\u2019 skincare products \u2014 but also to design and engineer a wider range of treatments by using biotech methods to harness bacteria to deliver targeted therapeutics.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are creating a base of a new skin product which is not anymore just molecules, which can\u2019t enter the skin because they\u2019re topically applied \u2014 it\u2019s really like a molecular machine,\u201d says co-founder and CEO Nastassia Kn\u014ddlseder. \u201cA bacteria which can move inside the hair follicle, like deep inside the skin, and produce new [effects].\u201d<\/p>\n The team\u2019s early research \u201cproof of concept\u201d work is focused on acne \u2014 and it\u2019s recently published a paper<\/a> on its experimental treatment delivery approach in the journal Nature Biotechnology (on a test of a \u201csebum modulator\u201d in an engineered skin microbe in mice) \u2014 but they envisage the approach being applied to tackle a much wider range of issues. Including things that range well beyond what we might consider skincare.<\/p>\n Potential use-cases they mention could include mosquito repellant or fat loss (a cream for making cellulite disappear anyone?), per Kn\u014ddlseder, or even vaccines and anti-inflammatory treatments.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have the potential triggering the immune system or creating vaccines against melanoma, for example,\u201d she suggests. \u201cWe have the possibility of the production of anti-inflammatory molecules.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe see this really like as a platform,\u201d she adds, confirming the team has patents for different indictions of the technology and for the platform itself. \u201cWe really don\u2019t want to limit to one use-case.\u201d<\/p>\n SynFlora is still at an early stage \u2014 they\u2019re in the process of raising a seed round, per Kn\u014ddlseder \u2014 and will obviously need to satisfy regulators of the safety and efficacy of their novel bioengineered mechanism for delivering therapeutics deeper into the dermis before the tech will be able to reach consumers.<\/p>\n But the co-founders suggest they could be between one to three years away from their novel system powering a new generation of skin-delivered therapeutics.<\/p>\n