1^st row, from left to right: Mr. BERNIE, Mr. COSTE, Mr. VANDENBROUCKE, Mr. SOULIER, Mr. PAUFIQUE (SILAB), Mrs DESSUS.

Friday, June 5, 2015 - Saint-Viance, Corrèze

These new industrial facilities, which represent an investment of €5 million (with self-financing), have been built upstream of the three current production lines dedicated to cosmetic active ingredients. They will be reserved exclusively for large-scale cell culturing, for yeasts and micro-algae for example. Over the years, SILAB’s historic understanding of the plant world has been supplemented by unique expertise related to the production and use of unicellular organisms made using biotechnologies. This strong strategic approach, launched approximately ten years ago, offers practical solutions to consumers’ changing needs, market demand and legislation on naturalness, efficacy and safety. Yeasts and micro-algae are environmentally friendly natural raw materials that respect biodiversity. Rich in active molecules of interest, they are then used by the company as raw materials to manufacture its purified active ingredients that have been proven safe.

This biotechnology production unit dedicated to cell culturing was commissioned in 2014. It is a unique, high-technology, automated tool in line with the ICPE regulation governing installations classified for environmental protection. It has an industrial capacity of up to 100 tons of biomass per year. It is therefore possible to produce approximately 1 ton of biomass from a tube of only 1 milliliter of mother cells within one week. The entire process is automated and supervised by monitoring software and a hundred or so sensors to ensure quality, traceability and reproducibility. These latest-generation technological resources are managed by a qualified team of technicians and engineers who are trained on a regular basis. Control of the scale-up from laboratory stage (5L) to industrial stage (5,500L) is therefore complete, making it possible to respond to customers’ quality and volume needs.

SILAB already markets a wide range of active ingredients (anti-wrinkle, skin complexion, moisturizing, repairing, etc.) made from unicellular organisms. They comply with the same specifications as plant-based active ingredients, i.e. they have controlled cost and quality, identified active molecules and proven efficacy.
Building on its experience, SILAB continues to broaden its engineering expertise related to yeasts and micro-algae, which are undeniably promising sources of innovation.
PROHYAL+^® is a moisturizing natural active ingredient rich in yeast oligosaccharides derived from blue agave (Metschnikowia agaves) leaves that stimulates the endogenous production of hyaluronic acid. Offering a level of efficacy similar to that of formulated hyaluronic acid, PROHYAL+^® can be found in all anti-aging formulas.

The Limousin Region provides funding for the Biotechnology Production Unit sponsored by SILAB.