Dr. Hannah Sivak, PhD, Supplier of Active Proteins for the Cosmetic Industry.

WHICH PROTEINS?

At HannahSivak.com, we leverage our extensive scientific expertise to develop advanced bio-identical ingredients for personal care. We sell these ingredients and provide consulting advice on creating the world’s most effective skin and hair care products. For pricing and minimum orders please write to info at hannahsivak dot com.

These ingredients boost the body’s natural defense and repair mechanisms, helping your customers regain and retain the natural beauty of their skin and hair safely and sustainably.

Note: We do not use transgenic plants (the European Union and others prohibit their culture) because we care about the environment. Also, as good biochemists, we choose the best expression system for our work. When you select the best system, you are already halfway there! This allows us to get our proteins at a great price, and the low price allows the formulator to use the ingredient at an effective concentration and not at “label value.”

 Proteins in stock

We supply proteins as a suspension to be stored refrigerated. We provide advice on formulation, including how to preserve the protein’s activity until use and what other ingredients can help optimize the overall product’s activity. We ship proteins within the USA overnight in a suitable container. Please refrigerate (do not freeze) the containers as soon as possible upon delivery.

Bio-Identical Growth Factors:

Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF, sH-Oligopeptide-1)

Synthetic human growth factor, skin growth, healing

EGF is a growth factor that plays an important role in the regulation of cell growth, cell proliferation and differentiation. As with all growth factors, EGF is a small protein. EGF acts by binding to specific receptors on the cell surface, starting a cascade of very organized molecular events, including increased intracellular calcium concentration, energy production and protein synthesis.

EGF is approved for use in cosmetics as a skin conditioner.

Keratinocyte Growth Factor (KGF, sH-Polypeptide-3)

Synthetic human growth factor, hair growth, healing

This growth factor has been proven to stimulate hair growth in laboratory studies. It also accelerates healing and increases skin volume. It may also help prevent hair loss during radiation therapy during cancer treatment. Keratinocyte Growth Factor (KGF) binds to a specific receptor on the cell surface, acting as both a growth and survival factor by stimulating epithelial cell proliferation, differentiation, and migration and promoting a number of cell protective mechanisms. KGF is also known as FGF-7 and heparin-binding growth factor-7 (HBGF-7). KGF is a member of the fibroblast growth factor family and has been found to stimulate hair growth. Cells that respond to KGF do so because they have receptors on the cell membrane that recognize the growth factor, normally produced by cells near or far from the target cell. The binding of the growth factor to the receptor initiates a cascade of molecular events that will eventually lead, among other effects, to cell division. KGF has been shown to regulate proliferation and differentiation in epithelial tissues and may regulate the stem cells of the hair follicle.

KGF is approved for use in cosmetics as a skin conditioner.

Bio-Identical Antioxidants:

Thioredoxin (sH-Polypeptide-2)

Mediates the reduction of disulfide bonds in proteins. Thioredoxins are proteins that act as antioxidants by facilitating the reduction of other proteins by cysteine thiol-disulfide exchange. Thioredoxins are found in nearly all known organisms and are essential for life in mammals.

Glutaredoxin (sh-Polypeptide-77)

Glutaredoxin is a protein involved in the catalysis of glutathione-dependent disulfide oxidoreduction reactions, acting in a coupled system with NADPH, GSH and glutathione reductase. Glutaredoxin provides protection against oxidative stress.

Superoxide Dismutase

Superoxide radicals are formed in a number of metabolic reactions, including lipid peroxidation initiated by light or metal ions. This process is the cause of rancidity of oils, but it also happens in live tissues. One of the reasons why the superoxide radicals are so dangerous is because they start chain reactions where more and more free radicals are formed, reacting with all cell constituents and wreaking havoc wherever they go. The role of SOD is to eliminate the free radicals resulting from lipid peroxidation and to prevent the chain reactions that would eventually reach deeply into the skin.

ROS* Terminator

This is a custom mix of 25% thioredoxin, 25% glutaredoxin, and 50% superoxide dismutase. Supplied in a stable suspension for use at 0.05%.

Repair Proteins

Methionine Sulfoxide Reductase (MSR, sh-Polypeptide-107)

This mix of two enzymes, MSRA and B, repairs the two possible sulfoxide enantiomers produced by the oxidation of methionine residues in proteins.

MSR repairs protein damage caused by reactive oxygen species that escaped the first line of antioxidant defense. In the scalp, MSR can fix oxidized amino acids (methionine) in a damaged tyrosinase protein so that the enzyme can keep catalyzing the first key step in melanin synthesis. The crucial role of MSR is not limited to the scalp. Oxidation of proteins by reactive oxygen species is associated with aging, oxidative stress, and many diseases. Methionine residues are among the most susceptible to oxidation by reactive oxygen species (ROS), resulting in the formation of methionine sulfoxide residues (MetO), and inactivation of the protein. Methionine sulfoxide reductase can repair this deleterious, activity-killing modification by catalyzing the thioredoxin-dependent reduction of free and protein-bound MetO back to methionine.

A MSR/KGF/thioredoxin blend is excellent for hair growth formulations. Please ask for formulation advice on how best to use these proteins.

Bio-Identical Antibacterial Proteins:

Granulysin (sh-Polypeptide-108)

This new anti-acne ingredient, ideal for use in skin care, is a member of the lysosomal proteins (saposin-like) that function as activators of various lysosomal lipid-degrading enzymes. Granulysin is expressed by activated human killer cells and T-lymphocytes and it exhibits activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and fungi. One of the advantages of this particular protein is that it will help keep at bay the acne bacterium Cutibacterium acnes (formerly known as Propionibacterium acnes). It works by creating holes in the target cell membrane.

Proteins made to order

Although expressing any protein is theoretically possible, there are two main possible difficulties: one is methodological, and the other is even more important: safety.

Our group can design a transgenic system to express almost any protein. Still, upon expression, we may find that the protein expressed is inactive because it damages the expression system we are using or for other reasons. Although most expression problems can be solved, they will increase the development cost. At present, we have no plans to express membrane-integrated proteins.

More importantly, we may decide that the protein is unsafe for our technicians to handle or can be misused. In any case, this would make it difficult to acquire an INCI name, a prerequisite for using a protein in a cosmetic product.

We reserve the right to reject protein orders.