Manifesto

When I started to talk about weak skin, I thought I was talking about something everyone agreed with. Sky is blue (sometimes). Skin is weak (sometimes).

Some people commented that they though we were inventing a new marketing term. “No such thing,” they said.

That’s when I knew that I had to create a place where we could really get down to it.

Present ideas. Get feedback, the more critical the better. And build.

I had once thought that YouTube or Instagram could house such discussions, but they don’t work.

Visitors to those platforms post drive by comments, with the expectation that no conversation will ensue.

And very few people join in.

It feels somehow uncomfortable to comment on a comment.

Here I hope to bring out the scientist that lies within all of us.

To provide an outlet for your natural curiosity, even if you haven’t acquired the scientific vocabulary yet.

I was in your shoes 20+ years ago.

I had no formal scientific training. Not a whit. No biology. No chemistry.

I was a history major with an MBA working in business development for sanofi-aventis when they moved my job to Paris.

Graciously, unbelievably, they offered me a PHd level job in inflammation R&D.

I was encouraged and laughed it. I didn’t really mind the laughter. I preferred not being coddled.

I grew.

After a few years, i would present to the head of R&D, Elias Zerhouni, the former head of the NIH. It was the ultimate “fake it till you make it.” I made it.

After sanofi, I started a biotech company treating an ultra rare genetic disease. We couldn’t afford traditional regulatory advisors, so I had to oversee our pre-IND strategy myself. It worked.

Now as the founder of Adipeau, I publish in peer reviewed science journals and design protocols for clinical studies, learning by doing, as the Germans say.

I want this place to be a source of inspiration and support for you.

We will talk about dermal fat and our work at Adipeau. But we will also talk broadly about the science of skincare ingredients, and the rigor (or lack their of) of skincare science and clinical development.

You don’t need science vocabulary to participate. You can express yourself in plain English. I will respond in kind but in the process will introduce elements of scientific vocabulary to be more precise.

Science is essentiallly democratic. Sometimes the language gets in the way. We are going to work our way through it.

Joyfully,

Ivan