Invitation to attend:
NANO Talk: From conceptualization to product shelf-life: A story on innovation of Strateris “second skin” platform.
Speaker: Ariya Akthakul, Ph.D. – Principal Engineer, Skincare & New Material Discovery, LivingProof Inc, Cambridge, MA 02142 (USA)
Date: Tuesday Nov 11 (10:00 – 11:30)
Venue: NANOTEC Innovation Zone, NANOTEC, INC 2 Bldg. B (Thailand Science Park)
Free registration to: ramjitti@nanotec.or.th
Presentation in Thai
Abstract:
This talk is a case study of a commercial platform called Strateris – on how a novel material has emerged from initial conceptualization, to system design and feasibility, then to packaging and commercialization. The plan for Strateris is to create an imperceptible, breathable, elastic “second skin”; that delivers additional skin properties beyond the skin itself. Potential examples include controlled drug delivery (SPFs, vitamins, APIs), wound healing, optical modification on skin (wrinkles & under-eye bags), as well as skin mechanical rejuvenation and support.
I will demonstrate a specific example of Strateris platform for under-eye bag and wrinkle reduction. Here, I divided the timelines into 4 stages of design aspects:
(i) Initial conceptualization of a novel material platform where the main task is to enlist expected performance criteria, and then to translate them into corresponding material properties. For Strateris, the concept is to come up with flexible materials of good elasticity, optically-scattered, good skin-adhesion, and surface resistance to environment (water in particular). Such performance criteria can be categorized into three buckets of material properties: mechanical, optical, and transport.
(ii) Once target properties are identified, the focus of the work is then shifted to molecular design for an optimal material system. For Strateris, a tunable silicone-based composite elastomer by-design could satisfied the required performances.
(iii) The next task is to deliver such material system onto the skin in a user-friendly and economical way – which includes recipe formulation & scale-up manufacture. For Strateris, we employed a two-step water-in-silicone emulsion system to deposit target composite elastomers via an in-situ crosslinking polymerization – with scale-up capability. At this stage, one major obstacle remains a high-throughput screening tool for optimizing formulation candidates where in-vivo to in-vitro performance correlations need to be established.
(iv) Then, the system is ready to be packaged into a product where the next stage is to verify the shelf-life or product stability against any perturbations such as heat, humidity, gravity, and vibration from transport. Without a real-time product stability data, the main challenges lie in how to formulate a quantitative prediction of shelf-life based on “accelerated conditions”, and how to identify critical attributes that truly represent the product stability. I will demonstrate how a lesson learned from Strateris can be adapted for future product developments.
About Dr. Ariya
Ariya Akthakul, Ph.D.
Principal Engineer, Skincare & New Material Discovery, LivingProof Inc, Cambridge, MA 02142 (USA)
Ariya earned his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT, working in Anne Mayes’s Lab designing a molecular platform for surface self-organization of their patented copolymers. His demonstrations on how these copolymers improved the water filtration membranes for their productivity & bio-fouling resistance have earned him several scientific publications, patents, and awards from MIT, American Physical Society, and Materials Research Society. Prior to joining LivingProof, Ariya has led a sensor development team for an electronic nose device at CogniScent, Inc., where he served as its R&D Sensor Development Manager for five years. At CogniScent, he played a vital role in securing SBIR grants to R&D program, as well as external collaborations such as UMass Lowell and Law Enforcement Agencies. Prior to CogniScent, Ariya has been a critical team member of Process Analytical Technology (PAT) initiation at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he brought in a real-time quality assurance and process understandings throughout each pharmaceutical unit process. Currently at LivingProof, Ariya is actively involved in new material discovery for Strateris™ platform – which is a highly elastic, flexible, breathable, non ‐ irritating, non ‐ toxic, and invisible micron ‐ thick polymer film with tunable properties for a wide range of medical, surgical, and aesthetic applications.
