Reprogramming Skin Cells for True Anti Aging with Serucell

0:00Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Skin Anarchy. This is your host Ekta and I'm really excited to introduce you guys to a new brand that I've come across lately. And mostly because, as everybody knows, we love science-backed options here at SA. And I think rightfully so because the skincare industry is growing so rapidly and there are so many options. And I think with all the promises out there, it's really important now more than ever to lean on science and to follow it, you know, when it comes to true innovations in skin health. So with all that said, I would love to introduce you guys to the co-founders of the brand SeruCell.

0:33I have with me today Dr. Walter Netto and Dr. Brett Gerald. Welcome, Dr. Neto and Dr. Gerald. I'm so excited to host you. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, no, it's an honor to host you both and to learn from you today. I'd love to understand more about how you guys came to the decision to begin SeriCell and where all of the innovation and the vision started. If you could kind of walk us down memory lane. Yeah, sure. I'll let you know a little bit of my background. So I'm a licensed physician. My background is in general surgery, also specializing wounds.

1:09I started doing research about 30 years ago. I started doing medicinal plants research into the Brazilian rainforest, where I am originally from. And then from that, I went to doing cancer stem cell research, bone engineering, and skin engineering as well. But over the last few years, about eight, nine years, I've been working on CCT, which is cell communication technology, which is the programming of the body, which is how you know what like how your cells communicate and what happens as you get older. And then and then CereoCell was basically born out of this work that I have been done over the last few years, focused on CCT.

1:52That's really exciting. This is Brett, ER physician, still practicing, and biomedical researcher as well. My mom was a biology professor. I have a graduate degree in biology and did a lot of work in the lab. I've been friends essentially since college. We find something that interests us, or if there's a question that we find fascinating, we tend to go down these wormholes, and that was kind of a nidus for Saracel. um walter was doing some really cool stuff uh trying to understand how wounds were operating how how they actually function in real time and so we had a lot of conversations just discussing how how cells interact with each other and that's that was uh so we pursued this and that's that's how we are uh evolved to this today yeah that's very exciting actually because i think this cell to cell communication aspect.

2:49I've never really seen it addressed, you know, in the OTC space. And we don't get the chance as consumers to learn as much as I think you would, you know, in medical school and graduate training. But I would love if you guys could kind of give us a one-on-one, you know, on this, is this aspect of truly like, what is, what are the hallmarks of wound healing? And what are, what were some of the things that were kept in mind when you were crafting the brand and coming up with the formulations? You know, one analogy that we love to use that you know i think everyone is kind of familiar with is comparing the body to a computer you know you have the hardware which is you know your organs what you can feel and touch but you have the software as well which is the programming of your body now as we get older this programming just starts accumulating errors just like you know you have a computer and then everything works well.

3:45And then 10 years later, the computer doesn't run as well anymore. And then you download the new Windows version, then suddenly everything works well again. It's basically the same principle. Your programming, your cellular programming, the way that your cells communicate when you're younger, they are vibrant and the cells communicate in a very robust and a very healthy way. and as you get older this program starts accumulating errors and things don't work the same way and it is the same way with aging and what we wanted to do, update your cellular programming and then your aging cells, in a way they start to remember the way that they used to behave the way when they were younger and that's when you see an increase in elastin and an increase in collagen and you see some of the reverse aging signs that we all have.

4:39But you said, and I'm thinking back to my old computer, you know, from like 2001 and how you would defrag the hard drive or something, you know, because I mean, it's a really it's a great analogy. And, you know, I know right now, you know, longevity science is kind of taking off and they're talking a lot about like methylation of DNA and there's a lot of things going on. One of the things that's interesting is we don't really we don't think about aging until we start seeing the ramifications of aging. You know, cellular aging probably starts in the early to mid-20s when you're invulnerable. And so you don't really notice the effects of these compound issues, you know, be it diet, rest, UV light, pollution, alcohol, smoking, you know, whatever you throw into the mix.

5:23All these things are having direct impact on health and in this case, specifically skin health. and your body, when you're young and vibrant, you don't notice this stuff. And then all of a sudden you're faced with the ramifications, so to speak. Yeah. It kind of like builds up over time, you know? Absolutely. I know in skin health, I'm sure both of you are pretty familiar with it, but for consumers out there, we talk a lot about like microtrauma and, you know, people discuss this a lot in a way that I think is, they're using it as an umbrella term, but I want to further understand from a wound healing perspective about this concept of microtraumas.

5:59You know, I know you just mentioned UV light, right? And I think along with that comes things like, you know, physical exfoliation, little nicks and tears that we might get in our skin. So how does wound healing play a role in our day-to-day skin health and just kind of, you know, repairing these little micro traumas? I think that like, you know, in order for us to understand, you know, aging in particular, I think we need to understand what actually happens on your skin in the pathology level, right? When you look at the natural slides, because we have actually done biopsies and trying to figure it out.

6:32And, you know, and that kind of, you know, makes me think of an article. No animal testing. The biopsies were on us. Yes. They were not on us. That is true. But, you know, like, you know, there was this L 'Oreal study that was basically conducted on the 1980s. You know, they're really trying to understand what is the difference between somebody who is 18 and somebody who is 60 when it comes to their skin. You know, what is the difference? So they actually saw a decrease in elastin, which makes your screen, that elasticity that we all naturally have when we were younger, you know, a decrease in collagen.

7:14And we also see change in what we call like the red ridge, you know. So the red ridge is basically the interface between the two layers of the skin that we have. So based on the skin, we have two layers. We have the dermis, which is the deeper layer. It's made 90 % of this particular cell type named fibroblasts. And that is the epidermis, which is the top layer where you can feel and touch. And that's made 90 % of this other particular cell type named keratinocytes. Now, the interesting part about this, these two layers is that the epidermis has no blood vessels. Two skins, so these two layers are communicating basically at all of the time, you know, when it comes to a wound, when it comes to any kind of stress that basically creates them to do.

8:08A particular interface that you have when you were younger, they almost look like Lego locks. The two layers connect each other, and they are almost in an undulating pattern. When you get older, this undulated pattern becomes almost like a flat line. The two layers are not connected, and that's what causes your thin skin when you get older. interface is decreased so that is less oxygen so that is less nutrient and that is less support going from the dermis to the epidermis because the epidermis like we're talking about is avascular and has no blood vessels so these are the things that we actually need to understand how actually aging skin is you know on a on a cell level we do with a serous cell we take all of that into consideration.

9:06And what we try to do, you know, we try to mimic what your skin is in a dish. That's why the importance is of the dual cell, the secret home of the multicellular secret home that we actually create because your skin is not a particular cell lines. And that's what also makes us different from having a single cell line secret homes like you're seeing, you know, in some other brands. And then we kind of, you know, so we use these healthy cells. We try to replicate what your skin is in a dish. Then we create a stress because you only heal when you're wounded, right? You know, being a cut, being a burn, everything that you do, it is a stress.

9:45So when your body is stressed, it starts this cascade of signaling, basically make your skin healing. And then we do the same thing, you know, on an in vitro or in a dish, you know, in our lab. And then we collect all of the signaling that the cells are basically trying that, you know, to to to heal themselves, which you would see normally in me or you, you know, if we get cut or if we get burned. And that's what basically serial cell is. Now, what makes us different is that a lot of a lot of brains, out there, they use like a single cell line. I'm not going to mention any names, you know, of particular brands.

10:28There's a few brands. There are a few, not many, but there are like a few brands out there, but that's only seen part of the picture because that's not how your skin actually works, you know, and we have actually analyzing if you use a single cell line, either fibroblasts or keratinocytes or if you use the dual cell line you know which is keratinocytes and fibroblasts together the result of the stress the physiological stress that we created to these cells it is a way different it's much more complex which mimics much more of what the human body can actually do. So what we do is literally, we just, we don't really create anything.

11:14We just tap on our natural ability to heal. And that's where Serious Cell, you know, really shines. And that's what it's based on. One thing to consider is like when, when people go to their esthetician and they're getting poked, prodded, scraped, burned, peeled, that's all an attempt to injure the skin to elicit a response, we're able to elicit a similar response in a dish. So you don't have to go through all those sort of mechanizations. I think we've used this analogy a lot on the podcast where, you know, somebody will come on and we're trying to explain to them how does skincare work. And you had spoken very wonderfully about this, about the keratinocytes, how they're avascular layer.

12:00They're really dead cells, you know. So whatever you're putting on top of them is really like a broth that you put in a cell culture. You're putting the media on top of the cells and you're feeding them. That's the whole idea that people are going for. But it really is important to highlight exactly what you guys explained, which is that there's this interconnection between the dermis and the epidermis. And the actual signaling that's happening is what's leading to healthy outer layer skin that we're looking at continuously. You bring up a really important part. When we do our secret term, there's well over a thousand proteins and molecules that we are able to generate, and they all act in concert to maintain a homeostasis.

12:42And fundamentally, that's what the body is trying to do is just maintain a certain level of cellular activity. To elicit an injury is to kind of ramp up that response. Otherwise, the cell is going to be operating kind of as it always does. And so, you know, this is the other thing that's great, I think, that is unique to our product is that we utilize, since we're utilizing skin cells, it's already a language that the body is aware of. You know, as Walter alluded to, we're not adding anything new. We're just augmenting what's already there. Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. And I would love to actually learn more about the KFS complex.

13:29I know that's your proprietary ingredient in your formula. And if you could talk to us a little bit about this. Yeah. So, you know, everything has, you know, comes from the anatomy of your skin. So we take into consideration how the skin actually works, especially with the epidermis being avascular. And these two cells interacting all the time for anything that they do. So it made sense for us, you know, whenever we were collecting the signalings, you know, that we get from these cells under stress, if we could replicate the skin much closer to what your natural skin actually is. And that means like these two cell lines working together.

14:06So and that's what we do. So we create this multicellular secretone that resembles much more of your skin, what actually is and what it looks like than if you're using a single cell line. And that's what KFS was actually born. And just going back, you know, when when talking about aging, you know, I mean, I like to call true anti-aging, you know, it's not something that is just superficial, you know, to to really achieve what anti-aging really means. You need to, you know, boost your elastin. You need to boost your collagen. You know, it's something that really is, you know, is on the cellular level.

14:49And that actually, you know, comes back to us on the rat ridge, you know, because some of the biopsies that we have actually seen is that some of the things that we see on the rat ridge, when the rat ridge gets older, which is the flattening of the line, we have seen some reverse on that to basically make the rat ridge much more similar and look like when you were younger. So that's what we like to call true anti-aging. And we think that we can achieve that by mimicking what your skin is with a dual cell line on a cellular level with the stress, which creates a much more innate intelligence of healing that we have than if you're using a much more simplistic approach, which would be a single cell line.

15:46Mass effects of our single cell lines. We did keratinocytes, we did fibroblasts, and they all produced unique profiles. But what was really cool to witness is when we co-cultured them together, there was actual synergy and there was molecules and proteins created that didn't exist in either of the single cell line samples. So there is real communication happening. It just goes to the brilliance of the body and how amazing it is. Walt spoke about the Rhett Ridge. going back on that we see in our as people continue to use our our product the the kfs serum we see increase in the undulation of the ret ridge so we're getting more surface area and more ret pegs pegs so you have increased communication you have increased vascularity increased oxygenation that's all going to the epidermis interestingly also you're seeing Below that, you're seeing a much more organized cellular matrix of collagen and elastin below the Rett Ridge.

16:59So all these cells are responding to this signaling in a positive manner. The Rett Ridge, you guys, I know you mentioned undulating, and that's a great word to use. Just for everybody to understand, it's kind of like your skin taking dips into the dermis. So it like, yeah, yeah. If you're looking at a profile, it's kind of like a wavy line. Yeah. And, you know, as if you think of a wave, a wave, there's much more surface area under a wave than there is under a flat line. And it is basically the interface, you know, is the communication line between the two layers. And, you know, as we were talking about, you know, because the epidermis is avascular, that's a very important line because everything from the dermis has to have to diffuse through this layer to nourish the epidermis.

17:56So the red ridge is basically the communication line where everything diffuses from the dermis to the epidermis. Your top layer, the epidermis doesn't communicate with the dermis. It doesn't know, like there's no communication in the body telling it what it needs. You're going to see levels like the signaling is going to be completely different because your body's interpreting that everything's fine on the top layer when it's not. And like, you know, for example, people using collagen creams and things like that. Collagen is a huge molecule. it doesn't penetrate through the skin, you know, because the skin is a huge barrier.

18:29So yes, it acts as a moisturizer and a good shield, but it's not able to diffuse through and really augment change. It's what is it, 500 Daltons limit that if you're putting something on your skin, like it will not go through and collagen is way beyond that. We really missed the mark, you know, with a lot of the products we see on the market where, you know, we're just thinking that, okay, if I slather something on my skin, you know, it's going to eventually glow and it's going to look beautiful and my makeup is going to look great on it. But really that's not what's going to heal your scars or your hyperpigmentation or, you know, that's, it's not doing anything because again, the same principles that you stated, you know, you're not getting the adequate blood supply and the nutrients that come from the dermis.

19:16You know, people that utilize our products, they feel some changes initially, but you're not really going to start seeing results for a couple weeks because the skin is turning over every 28 to 60 days, depending on your age. As you increase the healthy signaling over time, that's when you start seeing the results of healthier skin. And there's no magic bullet for this stuff, contrary to what people would sell you. So, you know, we're really very much results driven. And, and so that's where our, you know, our, our science focuses. I love that. I love that so much. And I'm so glad you guys are bringing that to the space because we need more of that.

20:01I think with, you know, I'm sure both of you have seen it, you know, in the world of medicine, I think it's kind of a bubble because you're so used to actual, like, you know, like medications and stronger, stronger options, but in the OTC space, it's so unregulated. And now people are hitting a wall. You know, I see so many posts all the time where consumers are saying, well, nothing works. You know, I'm going to go apply some beef tallow to my skin. And I'm like, that's not it. That is not it. You know, you have to keep looking. So what you're doing is so novel and it's so needed in this space because consumers are very confused.

20:35That's what I see every day. One thing that I love about our product is what Brett mentioned. Like these are all natural peptides, you know, so this is a language that your body understands. So these are not synthetics like you see in a lot of products out there. So in a way, it's a programming that your body already understands. We are just updating and make your body remembering the way that you used to behave when it was younger. One thing that's also kind of, I think, cool about our product is that you see positive impacts on ages and skin types and male and female. Because what happens is the body, whatever it needs, it finds in our serum and then it gets augmented.

21:26And so what doesn't need it, you know, it's so we get a lot of positive feedback where people have tried numerous products. They just weren't ever getting the result they need. And all of a sudden they are getting something. They find that they don't need makeup now. You know, like they're almost going down to just just our serum and they're thrilled about it, which is it's cool. I work in an emergency room typically, so most of my patients are not terribly happy. So it's really cool to see people coming back with exciting and positive results. At the end of the day, I think what we're all really looking for is for our skin to heal as we age.

22:11And I think that a lot of us kind of miss the mark and we look over that. But really, the skin concerns that I hear about, you know, from just general people that chime in to us, you know, as a show, they ask us, you know, what's going to help with my sagging skin? What's going to help with my hyperpigmentation, like I mentioned before? You know, or like, for example, acne is a huge concern. And not just the acne, but like the post-inflammatory stuff, you know, like the hyperpigmentation, the scars, the pitting. I mean, it's a huge problem. And there's nothing on the market that is really doing what we're talking about here, where they're saying we're going to have to change how your skin communicates, you know, for it to actually heal.

22:52There's something about aging with dignity. And there's a lot of products that people initially have a fond response to. But then all of a sudden there's, you know, they're left with like scar tissue, you know, some pretty invasive things. And ideally, with our products, people are circumventing this, and they don't have to experience that. You know, if you're 70, you're never going to look 20, but you could look 40, you know. And that's not an unreasonable ask if you're taking care of yourself. I want to actually highlight one thing. I think, Walter, you said this about the peptides. And I think this is so important to highlight because all of us know about peptides.

23:32So, like, if you're a skincare enthusiast, you love skincare, you've heard peptides at some point. but that's very important what you said versus natural peptides versus synthetic peptides and this is a concept i've never heard anyone really talk about where they don't discuss that with your natural peptides they're actually going to go to the location that they're supposed to go to there's a lot of synthetic peptides don't possess that i would love to talk to you guys a little bit about a little bit about this ai driven approach i know that you've utilized it in your brand and just I would love to learn more about AI R &D.

24:06Our technology is we have six manufacturing patents and so what that is is when we talk about a secret tone so the secret tone for those that don't know is the stress response of a cell and so what we've done and we're exploring not to get too crazy with it, but what we're doing is like, so these secret tomes are essentially data banks of your body. And what we do is like when we're investigating a particular thing, we will access our secret tomes and we educate an AI about it. And that means, so say we have problem A. And so we try to give as much information to the particular AI about problem A and problem A, everything that's normal about it.

25:04And then we try to find as many things that are abnormal about it. And then we test the AI to review what we're doing and what we have in our secret home to possibly create therapies or possible to address a particular issue. So like, you know, one of the things we have a biomedical side of our company that we're using this to look at other organs. But skin is where kind of where our love is, because that's where we deep dove with the most hard science. And so this is where we're really pushing and we're coming up with some really exciting results. A multicellular secret home can stand on its own or it can also be used as a library.

25:47When you can pick and choose with the help of AI to determine some possible combination to have a therapeutic use, we are already on the second phase of that particular process. And we actually have partnered with Marshall University Pharmacy School to do some testing for us. And we're really excited to the next phase of that project. I think AI is definitely the next step in everything, pretty much. Yeah. You know, the thing that's what it's providing us is, you know, we had reams and reams of data. And there's just no efficient way of going through it. And AI just provides a tool to evaluate data, look for patterns that you may be aware of or more likely not be aware of.

26:42It's not making decisions. It's just accelerating data interpretation so we can see what the next step is. It's expedited our research by decades probably. I think that the more we can learn, the faster we can learn it about skin health, the more likely we're going to get consumers away from this whole, like, you know, made in a kitchen skincare and get them real options. Oh, yeah. I mean, gosh, Walter and I used to watch like Shark Tank or some shows like that. And it's like, what is going on? And that was kind of like, you know, when we were crazy enough to create a brand, we're like, we're going to make something that's medically sound and something we'll be proud of, you know, to put out on the market.

27:29And that's how KFS started. Yeah, you know, like, and KFS is a total spin-off of our burning wound healing research. And the way that actually we decided to develop serocel is that, like, because, you know, since this was created for wounds, but just learning everything that goes around the wounds and learning about cell communication and how it degrades with time. And, you know, I was talking to Brett and I was like, Brett, I think that this could have some really positive impact on aging cells. You know, a very small batch. And we gave it to some, you know, to some friends and family, you know, about 50 to 100 bottles to see.

28:08And people went absolutely crazy about it. And that's how Serious Cell was born. I'll tell you what, you know, I've tried the products and I really love them. They're very nice. Like even on first application, I mean, the formulations are very, very nice and very sophisticated. And also, obviously, the long term effects are really the bread and butter here, right? Well, at the end of the day, people want stuff that doesn't, you know, they want things that impact their life positively. They don't want a homework assignment. It's got to be results driven and it's got to play well with others. Our product is hypoallergenic.

28:41It absorbs very easily. We only recommend to be used first, but you can layer all the products with it if you want to. but you know it plays well with others it does great by itself as well and you know we get some really great comments. I want people to have a good experience you know when they are applying our serums. Yeah I mean like even our bottle like we designed the dispenser so it's actually overfilled and you get a hundred percent of the bottle because you know we were reading when we first started that you know people buy products and sometimes up to 20 was unaccessible yeah and we're like that well that's that's not cool we try to be really thoughtful in how we created this nailed it you really nailed it i mean i appreciate that thank you yeah no it's a great set of products and i think that it definitely shows that you've put thought into you know even the little things even though the science is hard-hitting but i think when it comes to unfortunately you know with consumers all of the other stuff also you know it resonates sometimes more than it should in my opinion you know but with with the products i've noticed everything's great the packaging's great that you know the application like you know walter you were mentioning absorbs it absorbs really fast actually into your skin and it doesn't leave any kind of residue and it's very very workable you know and i know for a lot of women out there this is very important for us consumers you know female consumers because we do wear makeup it's important to make sure your skincare is working with your routine it's not just you know that's it's not just the only thing you do and then you can't do anything afterwards so that is a big aspect of it you know we had some makeup artists who act you know they love our products so much they are they were using almost as a primer before makeup yeah we had we had an oscars event a few years ago we had four winners we didn't know who they were but uh we got some feedback so that was kind of cool that's really cool yeah yeah yeah we have we have been in the oscars bag for the maybe three years over the last everybody everyone wins back and we have also you know been on the grammys uh on all of the grammys bags as well over the last three to four years and their response has been really positive so you're like the secret that all the celebrities aren't telling us about that like we're not hearing about this it's time to let the secret it out.

31:07Yeah. Letting it out. No more gatekeeping. That's right. No more gatekeeping. I really believe in the idea that, you know, if you put the science there, it's going to work. And I just, I wish more people would understand that. You know, I really do because at the end of the day, your skin is an organ. We've said that, like, I think ad nauseum at this point, you know, on this podcast, you have to really treat it like that. So the fact that you guys have cooked a heavy hitting product, it really brightens my day to know that you're, you're doing it right. What is the future for Serious Law? Anything that's coming up that you can share with us?