Aging & Hair Loss Explained: OS-01’s Science-Backed Approach

Hair loss isn’t just cosmetic. It’s a visible marker of aging biology and a profound emotional burden, and I think this is even more true for women. The last time Carolina Reis Oliveira joined me on the podcast, we explored the OS-01 peptide for skin. This time, she’s back to share new research on how it can be applied to hair, not only outperforming minoxidil in clinical trials but also pointing us toward protocols that address stress, hormones, UV exposure, and the scalp microbiome. I love OneSkin’s deep commitment to science and the curiosity that drives their work, which is exactly what allows them to bring discoveries like this forward. This is the kind of science that changes the way we think about both aging and patient care. ~DrKF

In this episode of New Frontiers, we examine new research on the OS-01 peptide and its potential to transform how clinicians approach hair loss. Guest Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD, co-founder of OneSkin, shares clinical trial data showing OS-01 outperforming minoxidil, along with insights into the biological drivers of thinning hair, from senescent cells and hormone shifts to stress, UV exposure, and microbiome imbalances. Listeners will gain practical takeaways on how to integrate peptide therapy into protocols, when to consider adjuncts such as microneedling or hormone therapy, and how polyphenols and prebiotics can support scalp health. This discussion provides functional practitioners with evidence-based tools to address hair loss as both a visible marker of aging and a significant quality-of-life issue for patients.

In this episode of New Frontiers, learn about:

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: I’ve used OneSkin [skincare products] for years now and it feels great going on. I’ve never had any kind of negative experience, nor have I gotten [negative] feedback. In fact, even my most sensitive patients use OneSkin without an issue. What about the HAIR serum? Are there any contraindications? Have you had any reported side effects? Did you notice anything in the study that might be untoward?

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: No side effects. The product is designed to be very gentle and soothing so anyone can use it at any age. We make sure that all of our products are safe first. So for the skincare products we are validated by the National Eczema Association, so people with sensitive skin and eczema can use this product. And for the scalp it’s the same. It’s safe for everyone, and as we said, it can be combined with other treatments if you want.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Welcome to New Frontiers in Functional Medicine where we are interviewing the best minds in functional medicine. And of course, today is no exception. I am here once again with friend and colleague, Dr. Carolina Oliveira. She is a scientist and entrepreneur and a leader in longevity innovation. She’s the CEO and co-founder of OneSkin. With a PhD in stem cell biology and tissue engineering, she is co-inventor of five patents as well as the co-author of numerous scientific publications in regenerative medicine and aging. Carolina, it is so great to be with you again on New Frontiers. Welcome back.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Thank you, Dr. Kara. Always happy to be here.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: I’m a huge fan of OneSkin, as you know, for many, many years now. OneSkin is on my skin, actually, as I talk to you. First of all, I love your commitment to the science. I love your team’s commitment and your very curious minds. We’ve had some very fun dialogues about how the OS-01 peptide may be applied elsewhere because when you understand it mechanistically— And we’ll be sure to link to the other podcasts, blogs, all of our content. We’ll link in the show notes for anybody who wants to do a dive back in time with my conversations with OneSkin, you can go do that. And we’ll talk about it here as well to an extent. But one of the miracle things about this really cool peptide that your team discovered is that it can be applied in many different ways. And so you are here today to talk about what you’re unveiling, this new application for the OS-01 peptide. So maybe give us a little bit of background on OneSkin and the skin products and the OS-01 peptide and now where you’re applying it and why.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yes. So OneSkin is a science-first company developing products that are designed to target one of the key drivers of aging, which is cellular senescence, or the accumulation of these zombie cells, that happens throughout our body. We’re more specifically focused on skin and now we’re going to talk about hair. But essentially, what we have been doing over the years is we’ve basically created this platform where we replicated skin aging in the lab. And then we tested hundreds of peptides to find the peptide that could significantly reduce the amount of these aging cells, the zombie cells.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: We found OS-01 and after a few years of research, we validated that the OS-01 does this in a very specific, targeted way. It allows the healthy cells to replicate by reducing the amount of these aging cells that are there and are impairing the healthy cells to grow and to do their job well. We like to compare the senescent cells sometimes with weeds that are impairing the growth of the plants, and when you remove those weeds the cells that you have in your skin can thrive. So that’s what the OS-01 peptide does. It basically targets these aging cells that are causing tissue degeneration and causing inflammation.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: We first applied it to the skin, which is our primary focus of expertise, and we developed a topical product that delivers this peptide into your skin, both face and body, and then sunscreens. More recently we were interested in exploring how this peptide could also help other conditions that are also associated with the presence of these senescent cells. From the studies that we found, one of these conditions is hair thinning and hair loss and none of the products that were on the market were actually exploring a solution that would address senescent cells in hair follicles. So that’s what we have been researching for the past two and a half years. Even from studies that are already published, it’s really interesting to see that when they treat mice that are full of senescent cells and they get rid of those senescent cells, one of the first things they see is that the mouse’s fur starts to get fuller and healthier again. That gave us some insight to explore treating hair thinning and hair loss with OS-01.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Very interesting. That’s exciting. I have waxed philosophically with you and your team about using OS-01 internally. And maybe one day you’ll go in that direction. Because…

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah, it’s one of our desires, obviously, but it’s such a complex development. So for now, we’re primarily focused on topical.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Sure. Well, it’s fabulous. You’re putting a lot of energy into the science and figuring out whether it works and doing the preclinical as well as the clinical work. And that takes time. It takes investment. And hair loss is a really, really big deal. As my team and I were pondering for this podcast, we were thinking about products in the functional natural market that work. And I want to say virtually zero, right? Or they’re difficult. I remember there was a product some years ago that I was excited about, but it was hard to apply and it was goopy and it was pretty depressing and people had to commit to it in a certain way, and there was a loss of adherence around it. Or, I’ve got a friend who’s invested heavily with quite a bit of money in stem cell injections and PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injections and to some benefit with PRP, but it’s a pretty brutal journey.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah, and it’s something that you need to go to a clinic and obviously your PRPs are as good as your internal health and your age, right? So if you’re still young and you can have a lot of growth factors in your PRPs, that’s great. But for some people that are more in an advanced age, they may not have as much of those growth factors as we hope. But I still do it. You know, I think for those who are going through this journey of hair loss and hair thinning, you’ve got to try more than one thing because it’s really hard to find just one thing that’s going to solve it all. I’m still a big fan of the PRP and the stem cells and red light therapy. And now we have a solution that’s drug-free that can be used at home. So I think that complements those options of treatments that are out there.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Two points that I want to say before you dive into telling us about OS-01 for hair is the statistic you gave me before we hit record, and that is that we’ve lost 50% of our hair before we realize that our hair is thinning. And I have thick hair. You know, I’m blessed with almost exceptionally thick hair, except that it is thinner. I can tell. And it’s anxiety-provoking, and it so it has to be true because all of us are on the journey of losing hair as we age and there is a huge emotional toll in that. It’s very anxiety-provoking. It feels powerless.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah. And, I mean, obviously we’re used to this topic for men, but I think women may be even more affected emotionally because we are, in theory, not supposed to get bald or lose our hair. And when you go through that, it’s so challenging because now you’re trying to find ways to hide your part, and you take a picture and you don’t like how you look and it’s just really hard.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: It’s hard.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: And so I think I’m really happy to also be supporting more women in this journey, which a lot of times cannot have access to the other options that are on the market because they can be, again, influencing your hormones in so many ways. So I feel it myself because I have androgenic hair loss in my family and I’m experiencing it. And I’m glad that I have this product now but I wish I had this when I was 30 years old because I could have been more proactive about it. And I think that’s one thing that we are now realizing that we should treat our scalp in a similar way that we treat our skin for prevention, right? We treat our skin to prevent wrinkles and fine lines. Why aren’t we treating our scalp to prevent hair thinning?

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Yes. One hundred percent.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: I think It’s definitely important to talk about because a lot of people are going through this.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: And to your point, I think women are being hit very hard, but there’s an expectation that it isn’t going to happen. So there’s a level of pressure, you know, as usual, that’s sort of unspoken. You won’t go through this. Another girlfriend of mine goes through extensive expense at having weaves done. So it’s just really kind of heartbreaking, the steps that we go through and it’s all on the down-low and there isn’t a lot of support. And, you know, only Jada Pickett Smith can shave her head. A lot of guys will just get a buzz. You know, they’ll just completely switch their look, but that’s not going to happen with women. So yeah, we’re pretty vulnerable to the ravages of this. And to your point, why haven’t I thought about my scalp until now.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: All right. So talk to me about the journey of the science behind or what you found as you uncovered the science and how you’re using OS-01. So what is the product? I haven’t had the chance to see it yet. I haven’t tried it yet. I’m dying to know. I love your other stuff.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: We need to send you the product.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Yes!

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: So basically our first hypothesis is, are senescent cells driving hair thinning and hair loss. In order to validate that, what we did was culture hair cell follicles in the lab and we induced senescent cell formation with stress hormone. You know, one of the main causes of hair loss is when we are going through some kind of stress in our lives. And we saw that we could induce senescent cells with that stress hormone and we could reverse the amount of senescent cells when we treated it with the OS-01 peptide. So we validated this in vitro. We were also able to validate that the peptide and the solution that we created with other actives could stimulate the hair growth.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: So another experiment that we did was we got scalp tissue and we isolated the hair follicles and we were basically treating the hair follicles to see how much we could stimulate the growth. And we saw that we were able to basically induce that growth in a very significant way. So the next phase was basically to formulate OS-01 with other ingredients that are also designed to support your scalp health in terms of blood circulation. We also know that’s important to improve hair growth. We have some antioxidants like fisetin, which we’re very familiar with. I mean, fisetin is also a senolytic in some ways, but it’s an antioxidant, it’s an anti-inflammatory. And the studies, again, with mice and fisetin show a hair growth.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: And we also have some prebiotics that help the scalp microbiome, which are also really important to support hair growth. The scalp microbiome shifts with aging and the bad bacteria and fungi can also impair the hair growth. And so once we had formulated this we did consumer and clinical studies. So we did a study like for three to six months and the results were really impressive. We saw after six months of applying this product twice a day, 40% increase in hair density and 40% increase in hair thickness.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Wow.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: So really, really impressive. And we have a lot of before and afters, but this was quantified with an instrument called HairMetrix, and this is all done by a third party CRO (contract research organization), an organization that runs this study completely independent of OneSkin. We were really happy, surprised to see that we could stimulate this amount of hair growth, decrease the hair shedding with this treatment. It takes time, right? We know that six months is not nothing, but we know that it does require that consistency because hair growth is a little more challenging than treating your skin, for example.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: What’s the quantity of OS-01 compared to say the skin topical or the eye serum? Is it a higher percentage in the hair product?

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: It’s a similar concentration. The delivery system is different because this formula is completely water based, so it’s a serum. So you’re basically going to apply and you can massage and you can style your hair. It’s not going to leave your scalp greasy or itchy and so it’s very easy to use and to include in your routine product. The concentration is similar, but it’s able to penetrate even faster because it’s a serum and also because the hair follicle basically already has kind of a channel that the product can go straight into it.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Interesting. Would you use it on your face? I can’t help but ask. Is anybody doing that just because it might…

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: I mean, we have not thought about that.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Sorry

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: No, I love all those questions. We also needed to test the penetration because for the face, the barrier of the skin is different and we add other ingredients that help deliver the peptides through the barrier. So that’s why I said for this, the scalp is easier because the follicle is already open and so it’s easier to penetrate there.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Got it, got it. Yeah, and I like the feel of both of the creams, especially I’m a huge fan of the eye cream (OS-01 EYE) and the tinted sunscreen (OS-01 FACE SPF). I might as well put it out there.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: I’ve used OneSkin for years now and it feels great going on. I’ve never any kind of negative experience, nor have I gotten feedback. In fact, even my most sensitive patients use OneSkin without an issue. What about the HAIR serum? Are there any contraindications? Have you had any reported side effects? Did you notice anything in the study that might be untoward?

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: No side effects. The product is designed to be very gentle and soothing so anyone can use it at any age. We make sure that all of our products are safe first. So for the skincare products we are validated by the National Eczema Association, so people with sensitive skin and eczema can use this product. And for the scalp it’s the same. It’s safe for everyone, and as we said, it can be combined with other treatments if you want.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Perfect. We talked about starting earlier. You wish that you had had this earlier. And you use it twice a day in active therapy in your clinical research. And that’s the CROs, Independent Clinical Research Organization that they hired to conduct the study. Hopefully you’re publishing on it and anything that you’ve written up.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: You are. Okay. If there’s any content available, of course, we’ll link to all of that in the show notes. I’m very excited to hear about it and just always impressed and grateful for your contribution to science and the financial commitment, and time, etc. to undertaking this kind of investigation. I think it elevates all of us for this work to be happening here in our space.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: So twice a day in active treatment and you talk about starting earlier. Would it be easier? Would you do this active treatment or might it be added to, say, a leave-in conditioner. Or, is it always going to be a twice a day application for prevention or might there be a little bit of an easier routine?

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah,I think for prevention you can probably start once a day. I personally use it once a day just because it’s hard. I know that twice a day can be too much to style the hair. So I use it at night and then either in the morning I wash my hair, although some people don’t need to wash their hair. So I think for prevention you can start once a day. And really, to actively stimulate more hair growth, I would go twice a day. We also have microneedling that we suggest for people to use to, again, help the absorption and penetration of the product. And we know that the microneedling will also help. But yeah, I would say at least once a day.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Do you suggest that a local esthetician does microneedling and applies the topical, or do you actually have a device that you’re selling along with the product?

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah, we actually sell as an add-on to the product so you can do it at home. It’s pretty easy. You shouldn’t be creating huge pokes into the skin, but just a little bit to help that penetration.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Interesting. Okay. And now for me, where I’m noticing it here– this is sort of the first place for women frequently. Can it be local to that area or should it just be all over?

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah. If it’s for prevention you can do all over. But if it’s targeted, you go to the areas like the hairline, where you part your hair, and you microneedle it first, and then you apply the serum on top, and you massage. And it should be pretty easy, not greasy. And yeah, we’re really excited about all the results. We have lots of partners that are using it and posting their own before and afters. And we love seeing that because it’s a challenging condition that we are after. We know everyone is interested in hair loss and we know there are solutions out there, but none of them are perfect in any way.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Yes. Yes, it’s a massive problem. And again the emotional component of hair loss is huge. I’m thinking of another patient who’s been using Rogaine for so, so, so, so, so many years that there’s some pretty significant background hormonal imbalances that have resulted for that dependency. And it would be really powerful to transition him onto another treatment. We’ll link to some of those stories. I think you probably have them on your website. It would be fun to see some of the before and afters. What about you?

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah. Awesome. Also, in our our clinical study, we did compare with minoxidil and Rogaine, and our product actually outperformed the Rogaine on the density and the thickness. So that’s on our website, and we can link to it. But we did the two arms of the study, one with OS-01 and one with minoxidil, and we’re, again, surprised and happy that we could deliver better results than minoxidil.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: That’s incredible. That’s huge news. Better results than minoxidil.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: (20:21) For those who want to combine, as I said, if you are up to it, you can also combine. There is no contraindication.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: And its different mechanisms.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah. Totally different mechanism.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: So might you have a stacked effect? Is it possible that combining may be more efficacious?

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: It is possible. I think this will vary from person to person. And obviously, you want to observe that there won’t be other side effects, as you said, for a patient that was impacting their hormones. I think everyone should evaluate depending where they are in their lives. For example, I’m trying to conceive right now. I’m not using any minoxidil or any drug-based product so I use my product. Sometimes I do PRP and I do the red light hat as well. These are safer alternatives for people that are…

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Have you been able to analyze your hair using any of the instruments you’re using in research to see whether or not you’ve noticed a difference or are you just analyzing visually?

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah, I’m just analyzing myself, like taking before and afters. But I do see a lot of the baby hairs growing, so that part is good. Like here I had a lot more.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Good. Good, good, good. I’m excited to start using it in practice and actually use it myself on these changes that I’m seeing. Well good for you. Congratulations.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah, I know. And to be honest, once I saw the six months data, I was like, okay, I need to use this myself because I’m also driven by the data and it’s a reinforcement.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Sure. Yes, that’s right. And I completely understand. That’s very funny. And you worked a lot on your skin. We’ve talked about your skin previously as well and some of the history that you’ve had with dermatitis. That’s fabulous. Okay, so that was my other question regarding other interventions, how it compared.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah. I think it’s important to mention, obviously, minoxidil and rogaine, the main mechanism of action is that it stimulates the blood flow, right? And so by providing more nutrients, your hair can grow faster. Some people are taking it orally, which again can have other implications. Most people apply it topically. So that’s one solution that’s out there. And then you basically have the drug-based, like finasteride and dutasteride that are preventing the conversion of testosterone into DHT (dihydrotestosterone). Because one of the key drivers of hair loss is when DHT binds the receptors in the hair follicle cells and that leads to hair shrinking, the miniaturization of the hair follicle.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: And there are these drugs out there that can prevent this conversion from testosterone to DHT, but also there are many many side effects for men, potential erectile dysfunction, and the levels in testosterone. And so I think you need to be careful. But there are these alternatives, mostly for men, I would say. For women, again, it can really mess up your hormones. But the goal of these other treatments, again, is to prevent the formation of DHT, which we know in the case of androgenic-related hair loss, it’s one of the key drivers.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Yes. What about other mechanisms? I mean, understanding that we’re focused on senescent cells gives me an idea that it’s likely going to be more efficacious in probably middle adult on, would you say?

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah. What we call age-related hair thinning, which usually affects people around their 50s, that’s the condition that’s more associated with cellular senescence. It’s at least more driven by cellular senescence. The androgenic-related hair loss is mainly genetic driven and cellular senescence can be a contributor. So you can also use the product to support you there, but it may not solve the problem completely. And then you have the stress-induced hair loss or the hormonal-related hair loss, which affects a lot of women during postpartum and menopause. And in both of these situations, we know that when estrogen declines, estrogen is a hormone that keeps our hair in the hair growth phase. And when it declines, the hair transitions into this shedding phase. That’s why we see a lot of the shedding postpartum and through menopause.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Progesterone is also a hormone that prevents the conversion of testosterone into DHT. As progesterone declines, we also see more DHT binding our receptors and that leads to more hair thinning. So it’s very clear that hormones are impacting our hair thinning and there is this component of the senescent cells. So we can counteract this by targeting the senescent cells that are causing inflammation in your hair follicles and accelerating this process even more.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: So a really good protocol would be using the OS-01 topical, using the OneSkin topical, maybe plus HRT or plus progesterone.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yes.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Yeah, that makes sense. I can’t say that I’ve seen in my patients on HRT and specifically progesterone… I think that there is a lessening of hair loss. I don’t know that we’re stimulating regrowth, however.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yes. Exactly. So you can pair with OS-01 so you can stimulate the regrowth, but at least you are slowing down, preventing the hair thinning, the progress of the hair loss.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Wow. Okay, that’s fabulous. You talked about stress-induced hormone imbalances. Thyroid comes to mind as another sort of classic hormonally-induced cause of hair loss.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah, definitely, any thyroid dysfunction can also have an impact and so for these conditions, you obviously want to try to fix these issues as well. And again, OS-01 HAIR can help you to go back to that growth phase again and accelerate the hair regrowth and maintain the hair in a healthy state. But I think for all of these conditions that are driven by hormone imbalances or thyroid dysfunction, we still needed to treat the main issue there.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Yeah, of course. So we do the root cause, we do our full functional approach and we get in there and address the accumulating senescent cell burden. And I would imagine that these drivers of hair loss are probably not helping the aging journey, the accumulation of senescent cells.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah, for sure. I think all of these drivers, they’re either causing some kind of inflammation, they are compromising the barrier in some ways. So if you’re thinking menopause where your skin is getting drier, your barrier is compromised, so in your scalp, this can also happen. And it’s important to maintain a healthy scalp, a healthy scalp microbiome. A lot of times we go out in the sun and we don’t have a hat and our scalp is being exposed to UV damage and is getting sunburned and that’s also driving hair loss. So a lot of these conditions, obviously they are interconnected.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Very interesting. And we’re not giving it sufficient thought. You know, we’re thinking about our faces, we’re thinking about our bodies. Right. God, I always liberally put sunscreen on my daughter’s hair because it’s so thin, but I’m not thinking about mine enough, you know?

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah. At least wear a hat all the time. And I also forget sometimes and then later at night I’m feeling my scalp is red and a little sore from the sun.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: The product design sounds pretty cool that you’ve got fisetin. I’m a huge, huge fan of polyphenols and their pleiotropic benefit to all the hallmarks of aging. So that’s neat that you have that in there. And then you’ve got a prebiotic. What are some of the microbiome changes? I mean, I can think about how my hair texture has changed over the years. It’s drier now than it used to be, you know, I definitely had more natural oils when I was younger. But that’s really interesting to me that you’re thinking about the hair microbiome. Talk to me about that.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah, as you know, our microbiome is important in our gut, in our skin, and it’s also important in our scalp. As our microbiome changes with the aging process and loses that homeostasis, we start to have more of the bad bacteria that will promote more hair loss and less of the good bacteria that should maintain the hair in that growth phase. And by feeding the good bacteria with prebiotics, we can basically recover that healthy microbiome. So we did see a shift in our clinical studies. We also collected the scalp microbiome and analyzed it at baseline and six months and we did see a shift in the amount of good bacteria and a decrease in the bad bacteria that’s associated with hair loss.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: We also saw a decrease in some fungi that are associated with dandruff. Which again, all of these conditions are related to inflamed scalp, your scalp is flaky, and so recovering that microbiome can have these other benefits. Because again, a lot of times we’re not using the right hair products, right? We’re using a lot of preservatives or some toxic ingredients and we are dying our hair and we are doing so many things. So we’ve got to be able to treat and try to recover that scalp microbiome that’s being affected in so many ways.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Yeah. Fabulous. just, I love it. I love that you’re bringing attention to hair loss in this very science-forward, systems-thinking model. It’s super cool. Publications that are in the works? From the data that you’ve gathered, your preclinical and your clinical, what are you working on and has anything been published so far?

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah, so we just concluded this study in June, so we are working on the publication right now. Hopefully by the end of the year it should be available. We already have a summary of our clinical data and our in vitro data on our website, either on the product page or on the blog, but we are working on that publication. But yeah, this year we already published the EYE clinical study, we published the BODY clinical study and we have more exciting things in the works that we will be publishing soon.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Woohoo! That’s great. Anything you can share with us or is it all pending?

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: We continue to dive deep in the mechanism of action of the peptide. One study that we did was really interesting. Well, first we found that the peptide reduces senescent cells only in the skin cells. And then we tested now that the peptide reduced senescent cells in all types of skin cells. We evaluated cells from the dermal layer, the epidermal layer, the immune system. So we are modulating cellular senescence as a whole in the skin. And then we can see how the skin is shifting to a younger, more functional, more resilient skin. And this is with very advanced techniques of single cell sequencing, so really understanding what each cell is expressing in some way. And then we are also doing other studies to improve the penetration of the peptide into the skin. So there’s a lot more that’s going on that will translate into even more effective products down the line. We love to continue to push the science forward with the goal, obviously, to bring better solutions for our community, for our customers.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Very exciting. Would you apply OneSkin after microneedling? I mean, many of us are doing microneedling.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: I would say not immediately because the OneSkin— You mean for the skin, not for the hair?

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Yeah, for the skin. Yeah, that’s right.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah, because the product is an emulsion and usually after microneedling you want a water-based product or a hyaluronic acid base. But the next day, yes, you can apply no problem. It will really help your skin to heal faster, regenerate, reduce the redness. The product is really soothing and calming and anti-inflammatory. Yeah, I did microneedling recently and the next day I applied OneSkin and I felt like it helped so much. And I even applied one product that we were developing that was also very good.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Nice!

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: So that one will come out soon. I don’t know if you’re aware, but the other area that we’ve been studying a lot is our lips because it’s kind of a neglected area that we mostly ignore. So we developed a lip SPF that’s mineral-based and the data shows that can increase elastin as well so it can help with the health and the function of your lips. And then there is another one coming out that’s also focused on repairing the loss of volume that we have over time, inducing collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid. So that one will come out in October and the results are really incredible, so I’m excited.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Wow. Well, hopefully we’ll circle back and we’ll dialogue about what that is. I really want to know. I’ve felt very dubious about those product claims, any kind of…

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: I know, exactly. Everything that we say we have the data to back. And now we are validating with consumer studies, which is really exciting. So beautiful to connect the science in the lab with the outcomes that people experience when they are using the products.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Yes. That’s fabulous. I’ll look forward to looking at some of the before and afters and of course, reading the paper when it comes out. All very, very exciting. One of the fun things we were talking about, I’m a science geek obviously, which is why I fell in love with your product in the first place. By the way, Carolina and her team are the scientists who developed the first epigenetic skin clock. I think the only epigenetic— I don’t know if there’s any others out there to date and that sort of started our conversation. I was very excited about this OS-01 peptide that could move back the hands of the epigenetic biological age.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: You and I were just talking before recording, you know, thinking about Yamanaka factors, these four transcription factors that when applied to a somatic cell can reverse it all the way back to pluripotent stem cells. That is the Yamanaka factors and there’s all sorts of research happening in cell rejuvenation, you know, looking at animal models and all sorts of– It’s a hot, hot area of research right now, reversing or cellular rejuvenation. And I stumbled upon a paper seeing that some of these transcription factors, these Yamanaka factors, some, not the full quartet, are right there involved in the very unique growth process of hair and keeping those stem cells. We have to have those stem cells present to allow for hair growth. And so I threw that out to you and Carolina has agreed to look and see. They have the technology to be able to see whether or not they’re expressing these, specifically, it’s the SOX2 protein in the Yamanaka factor quartet, and that would be part of why we’re seeing the regrowth. And I’m I think you you probably are.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah. And I mean, it makes sense. And an interesting thing that I did recently, there is a company, (Acorn), that can store your stem cells by collecting them from the hair follicle. Have you seen it?

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Oh, is that where they’re collecting it? I didn’t realize that. I see. Cool.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah. So I did that. I was at a conference and I met the founder. They basically collect like, I don’t know, tens of hair follicles and they will isolate and grow your stem cells from your hair follicle. They will freeze them and they even produce what we call the secretome, what the stem cells are secreting, and then they can ship to you to apply on your face, on your hair. But it’s a really interesting way for you to keep your stem cells without being invasive, right? Because the other options are bone marrow or adipose tissue and even your dental pulp. But obviously we need it to be—

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Yeah. Intense.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah, and you know, the kids. I usually tell my friends when their kids are losing teeth, keep the dental pulp and send it to collect the stem cells for the dental pulp. Because from the studies, it’s one of the key cells that still have a lot of the Yamanaka factors transcription genes active. As a kid, not a baby. So it’s an interesting source. But yeah, for adults, I think the hair follicle is an interesting one. And now I’m excited to see if OS-01 is turning that SOX2 on or if it’s already on and we can elevate the levels. I’ll definitely investigate that.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Yeah, I’m super curious about that. So basically when my daughter loses another tooth, I need to hang on to it and bank it.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: You need to find a company that you can ship to.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: There’s one here in Mexico City, actually.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: So you connect with them, you ship to them, they should isolate the stem cells and freeze them down because then your daughter can use them later in life for many things. And the earlier that you freeze them down, the better.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Yes, they’re young.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah, exactly. They have more potency of dividing and becoming any kind of cell.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: That’s so cool. A random side topic. That’s really cool. And I want to do the same with my hair follicle. Yeah, I’d rather do that than a fat biopsy or a bone marrow biopsy for sure.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah, I can link the name of the company that does this. (Acorn)

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Thanks. Well, Carolina, it was fabulous to be with you. I’m always excited to hear of the many, many, many, many things that you are up to over there at OneSkin. It’s an honor for me to be able to support elevating your brand. And of course you support women in science. I think your team is entirely comprised of women PhDs.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yes.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Yeah, in many ways I just feel very much in alignment with the spirit of what you’re doing.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah, no, likewise, Dr. Kara, I’m a big fan of your work and it’s always a pleasure to be able to come here, share these updates and all that we’re doing. Thanks for supporting us.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: 100%. Yeah. And we’ll pay attention in our patient outcome and you know, people on our platform who are using the product. Folks stay in touch with us. We want your feedback.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Yeah, we definitely want to hear from all of you.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald: Yes. Thanks so much.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD: Thanks Dr. Kara.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD is the CEO and co-founder of OneSkin and an advocate for healthy aging. After earning her doctorate in immunology, she relocated from Brazil to Silicon Valley to pursue her goal of using science to help prevent age-related diseases. Under her leadership, OneSkin has made significant strides toward this mission, starting with their proprietary OS-01 peptide, the first peptide scientifically proven to reverse skin’s biological age.

Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD

OneSkin Publications

Research: Clinical efficacy of OS-01 peptide formulation in reducing the signs of periorbital skin aging

Research: OS-01 Peptide Topical Formulation Improves Skin Barrier Function and Reduces Systemic Inflammation Markers: A Pilot 12-Week Clinical Trial

OneSkin Blog: Combing Through the Science of Hair Loss

OneSkin Blog: OS-01 HAIR: Clinically Validated to Support Your Scalp’s Microbiome

OneSkin Blog: Rooted in Science: The Clinical Evidence Supporting OS-01 HAIR

HairMetrix AI-Driven Hair Consultation

Acorn Stem Cell Preservation

Podcast: Targeting Cellular Senescence for Healthier, More Youthful Skin

Podcast:  Disrupting Anti-Aging Skincare by Targeting Senescent Cells

Blog: Biohacking Your UV Defense: How Antioxidants Optimize Your SPF

Blog: Why Skin Health is the Ultimate Test of Longevity

Blog: How the OS-01 Peptide Works to Reverse Skin’s Biological Age

DrKF Clinic: Patient consults with DrKF physicians including Younger You Concierge

Bio Age Self Assessment Quiz

Younger You book

Better Broths and Healing Tonics book