Your cells donβt lie. Historically, evaluating skin health and skincare efficacy has relied heavily on subjective measures like visual assessments and ratings, self-reported improvements, and before-and-after photographs. While these methods have their place, they lack the scientific precision needed to truly quantify skin aging.MolClock marks a new era in skin care and aging research, using machine learning and epigenetics to accurately assess skinβs biological age.
01
Revolutionizing Skin Health Metrics with MolClock
At the heart of our internal R&D platform is MolClockβthe first-ever machine-learning-based algorithm that predicts the biological age of the skin with unprecedented accuracy. (1) By comparing the skin's biological age before and after undergoing treatment, you can accurately measure whether the treatment has reversed the aging process or inadvertently accelerated it.
A Landmark Publication in Clinical Epigenetics
OneSkin co-founder Dr. Mariana Boroni, developed MolClock based on the analysis of over 500 human skin samples and more than 2,000 DNA methylation (DNAm) markers. Dr. Boroniβs findings were published in the journal Clinical Epigenetics as βHighly accurate Skin-Specific methylome analysis algorithm as a platform to screen and validate therapeutics for healthy aging.β
The Science Behind Methylation and Aging
Not all genes are expressed equally in your cells. There are various regulatory mechanisms that control the activity and expression of individual genes; this is referred to as the epigenome.Methylation is a key genetic regulatory mechanism, where small chemical groups called methyls are appended to a gene inhibiting its expression. (2) As you age, your methylation patterns change with you. This is referred to as epigenetic alterations, one of the primary hallmarks of aging and can have a greater influence over the methylation patterns of a person than genetics. (3) Generally, you lose some of these methyl groups, but in certain areas, they accumulate. This can lead to important genes being deactivated.
How Epigenetics and Methylation Impact Skin Health
Many genes associated with youth get over-methylated with age. For instance, genes crucial for collagen production can become over-methylated with age, resulting inΒ collagen decline. This reduction in collagen is one reason why your skin is less firm when you get older. (4)
02
The Inspiration Behind MolClock
Dr. Boroni was inspired to create MolClock by the need for a tissue-specific molecular clock that could accurately measure the age of skin cells. Existing biological clocks, such as the Horvath clock, are non specific to the skin and have been found to be inaccurate in measuring the biological age of skin cells. (5) They are therefore not useful to evaluate skin specifically, or to assess the βanti-aging" effect of skin care interventions. MolClock is a skin-specific algorithm that offers unprecedented accuracy in predicting skinβs biological age, making it a valuable tool for aging research and skin health assessment. (1)
Empowering the Scientific Community
OneSkin believes that all skincare products should haveΒ proof of concept based on empirical data. For this reason, MolClock is available for public use, allowing scientists worldwide to upload methylation data and receive biological age predictions.
03
MolClock in Action: Developing OS-01
OneSkin harnessed the power of MolClock to quantitatively measure the effects of the OS-01 peptide on skinβs age. By measuring skinβs biological age before and after treatment with the OS-01 peptide, MolClock provided an objective measure of the peptide's impact on skin aging.We were proud to discover that the OS-01 peptide is the first peptide scientifically proven to reverse the skinβs biological age. (6)
DNA methylation age of ex vivo human skin samples (79yr) treated with 12.5uM peptide for 5 days calculated using the Skin-Specific DNA Methylation Clock, MolClok (Zonari, et al., npj Aging, 2023)
When paired with synergistic high performance skin care ingredients such as niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, jojoba oil, and more, OneSkin products focus on your skin at the cellular level.
Key Takeaways:
- MolClock is the first machine-learning-based algorithm designed to accurately predict the molecular age of the skin specifically.
- Through the analysis of over 500 human skin samples and more than 2,000 DNA methylation markers, MolClock provides an objective and precise method for measuring skinβs biological age.
- Traditional biological clocks like the Horvath clock are not specific to skin, making them less accurate for evaluating skinβs biological age specifically, and the relative efficacy of βanti-agingβ skin care ingredients and products.
- OneSkin used MolClock to develop and validate the effects of the OS-01 peptide, making it the first peptide scientifically proven to reverse the biological age of the skin.
Disclaimers
- This article was initially published in July 2020 and has been updated.
References
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27518561/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27518561/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28198702/
- https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1000971
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24138928/
- Boroni, M. et al. Highly accurate skin-specific methylome analysis algorithm as a platform to screen and validate therapeutics for healthy aging. Clinical Epigenetics 12, 105. 2020.
