Approach

Our team of scientists examines scientific publications and partners with universities or strain discovery companies to choose probiotics for our products. 

The key criteria for selection include:

1. The probiotic must be safe and included on the FDA's GRAS list.
2. Credentialed journals must publish refereed scientific publications that demonstrate the benefits of the probiotic under consideration.
3. Ideally, the probiotic should originate from the human microbiome.

Once a probiotic is chosen, different strains will be obtained either from the ATCC cell bank or our manufacturing partners. 

1. Each strain will be formulated to create stable dry probiotic
2. Each strain will undergo evaluation on our baseline Bloom platform to assess compatibility. 
3. Subsequently, Bloom media and formulations will be developed for strains that meet the baseline compatibility criteria. 
4. Product concepts will then be created and subjected to various tests.

Extensive testing will be conducted before finalizing a formulation and proceeding to production.

1. Stability and purity of the Probiotic material: Our probiotics are generated through fermentation, followed by a formulation process that safeguards their cell wall integrity and viability during downstream drying. The formulated cells undergo a drying process to yield dormant, shelf-stable cells. The viability of the dry product and the presence of any non-target microorganisms will be assessed once the product is ready. The powder must contain only the intended probiotic at the specified concentration for that batch. Any impurity will necessitate the rejection of the batch and a restart of the process. formulation and drying process should also provide a long shelf-life at room temperature. During development, we will use accelerated stability testing to quickly assess if reformulation is needed. Real-time stability testing will be done on candidate formulation. 
2. Stability and purity of the bloom media: Each bloom media is tailored for a specific probiotic and must be sterile, containing zero microbes. Additionally, the media must retain its sterility within the packaging. T=0 and overtime testing will be done to assess the purity of the media as well as maintenance of its physical stability assessing any sedimentation or separation. 
3. Safety of the texturizing vehicle (cream/lotion): Our texturizing vehicle, whether it be a lotion or cream, must pass the safety substantiation testing soon to be mandated by the FDA. It must also comply with the FDA's permissible microbial load standards. Throughout development, our team establishes procedures to ensure contamination-free texturizing vehicles. Samples of the final formulation are sent to our testing facility partners for standard safety substantiation testing.
4. Compatibility of the texturizing vehicle and probiotic: The chosen probiotic will be blended at various concentrations with the texturizing vehicle and incubated for a minimum of 7 days to evaluate compatibility. The data collected will inform formulation adjustments and for final formulation will be published for customer awareness.
5.  Effectiveness of the packaging approach in maintaining product purity and quality: Packaging plays a vital role as it must offer both aesthetic appeal and protection against moisture, oxygen, and light to ensure a shelf-stable product. The packaging process must prevent any contamination. purity of the product at multiple points during packaging will be tested and adjustments to the process will be made to guarantee high quality packaged products.

1. Upon completing all tests, ensuring compliance with FDA cosmetic regulations, and meeting our stringent quality standards, our production team will commence the manufacturing and packaging of the target product. 
2. Utilizing the final product, we will perform an additional series of safety validation tests.
3. In collaboration with our early adopter customers, we will evaluate the probiotic's efficacy on different skin types against prior studies to robustly substantiate claims for our cosmetic products.