❯❯ NORTH COUNTY
A LITTLE EGG
on the face
WOMEN HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO slather
their faces with fruit, fish oil, foreskin (uh huh,
the target of circumcision) and even the neuro-
toxin that causes botulism — all in the name of
looking pretty. Now an Oceanside biotech has
another novel ingredient for the aging-averse:
stem cells from unfertilized human eggs.
“It’s not like a woman donated eggs in
Encinitas and three months later it’s in some-
one’s skin in L.A.,” explains Brian Lundstrom,
president of International Stem Cell Corpora-
tion (ISSC) in Oceanside, parent company of
Lifeline Skin Care. It’s more like this: Women
go to in-vitro fertilization clinics to get preg-
nant. There are oen leover eggs from that
process. Researchers select stem cells, grow
billions of them, and extract the bits that skin
loves, such as growth factors — with permis-
sion from the donors, of course. Scientists
then whip ’em up with antioxidants and sell
the stuff in a slick plastic tube for about the
cost of a month’s supply of Frappuccinos.
NC16SanDiegoMagazine.comMarch2011
Is this a noncaffeinated fountain of youth?
Ruslan Semechkin, the CEO of Lifeline and
a biologist by training, says an
eight-week study showed the
day-and-night serum combo
reduced the number and depth
of wrinkles and made skin
brighter, tighter and moist-
er — though he wouldn’t say by
how much. (Semechkin is 25,
has the olive-tinged skin of a
baby and admits a complexion
of his variety doesn’t need this heavy hitter.)
Even in the stem cell world, youth is
coveted. Lundstrom says stem cells taken
from unfertilized eggs — the very seeds of
life — are the youngest around and can be-
come any cell in the human body. This is
the first time such stem cell fragments have
found their way into beauty cream, he ex-
plains. And because the eggs aren’t fertilized,
they bypass the embryo controversy.
Someday, movement in the paralyzed and
memory in the aged could be restored by
using such cells; ISSC
has already grown a hu-
man cornea that could
cure blindness in people
with eye damage. These
breakthroughs may be
decades away, but ISSC’s
“cosmeceuticals” are just
the beginning. Profits from
pocketbooks of the age-ob-
sessed will fund the biotech’s research
for other therapeutic drugs. So if you’re con-
sidering spending a small fortune to plump
things up, you could call it a contribution to
science.
Lifeline Defensive Day Moisture Serum
sells for $155 and Lifeline Recovery Night
Moisture Serum costs $185. It’s available at
lifelineskincare.com.
 REBECCA TOLIN