University renews partnership with Alliance Boots

16 Jul 2014

Five-year skin research programme to further understand skin ageing

The University and Alliance Boots have renewed their partnership in order to build on the highly successful work already achieved between the two organisations.

This new five-year partnership, which will run until the end of 2018, aims to further investigate the mechanisms by which human skin ages and, in turn, help boost innovation within Boots product brands.

The partnership will continue to examine both the intrinsic characteristics of skin ageing and the effect the environment has in accelerating the process. Furthermore, this new programme will explore causes of accelerated skin ageing such as inflammation, as well as investigating ageing in people of different ethnicities. The programme will also focus on the testing of anti-ageing technologies, including beauty devices, to help deliver faster and higher quality outputs.

The renewal of the partnership was launched at the Manchester Museum and attended by key representatives from both Alliance Boots and the University. Widely recognised as world leaders in skin ageing, the University research team will be led by Professor Chris Griffiths, Professor of Dermatology and Consultant Dermatologist at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust.

Over the past five years, Alliance Boots and the University have achieved a strong publication record creating two patents, 29 published academic articles showcasing new findings in high impact dermatology journals – with seven more in preparation. In addition, work has been presented at 20 international conferences. The partnership has also enabled Alliance Boots to further meet customer needs through the development of its highly regarded product brands, while ensuring a leading competitive advantage within the anti-ageing skincare category.

President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell said: "This collaboration between Alliance Boots and The University of Manchester is a world-leading example of commercial and academic partners working together as one team."

Professor Chris Griffiths added: "We can tell a lot about the overall health of a person from looking at their skin – this exciting new partnership will allow us to better understand how we age and why people age at different rates."