Research & Development

OBI Performance Formulary
OBI's product design team of molecular biologists, chemists, biochemists and physicians work together to develop innovative products for a market place that demands performance, quality and where concept-to-market timing is key to success. OBI maintains complete research laboratories for the study of the aging process and repair of human skin.

Product Testing Methods
Efficacy testing via in vitro cell culture studies aid in determining active cosmetic products. These studies also validate proliferative and collagen enhancement capabilities that products may induce in human skin. Assays used in OBI studies include:

• Cytotoxicity using alamarBlue (Trek Diagnostics) to determine cell toxicity of a product.
• Cytoproliferation using CyQUANT (Molecular Probes) to determine growth/multiplication of cells
• Soluble Protein Production using CBQCA (Molecular Probes) to determine
  increased protein production.
• Microarray Analysis to study cellular response in skin, i.e., up regulation and/or down regulation of gene expression for collagen, hair growth, IGF-1 and thousands of other genes, using MatTek, a skin equivalent tissue that products are applied to.

Our equipment used to validate the characterization of the delivery systems and their results include:

FTIR, UV-VIS, Laser Low Angle Light scattering spectrometers, SPF UV Trans Spectrometer, HPLC, GC, MALDI-TOF MS, 20 Mhz Ultrasound Dermascan, SciBase Impedence Spectrometer, Dermal elasticity/TEWL, UV Microscopy.

Clinical Testing
OBI uses Visia Imaging technology allowing clinical testing with digital analysis evidence of visible performance. Our clinical test unit includes Erbium laser, IPL, Epilight and microdermabrasion systems to aid in the development and testing of post procedure enhancement products.

Quality Assurance
Our fully staffed, Quality Control laboratory provides physical property and microbiological analysis and documentation of products manufactured from inbound raw materials to finished goods, all in accordance with FDA cGMP.

FDA/CTFA recommended procedures are followed for all microbiological analysis.