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depuis ses débuts en 1993. Il y a des
progrès certains dans la compréhension
de l’arthrose, du vieillissement
de la peau, de la physiologie des centenaires.
Un nouveau projet européen
est en cours de financement et,
grâce à un de ces acronymes dont
les Anglais ont le secret, il s’appelle
INFLAMAGE. Avouons que, pour celui
qui a introduit en 1995 le concept d’un
vieillissement de la peau accéléré
par l’inflammation (moi, en l’occurrence…),
c’est une petite satisfaction
« narcissistique » !
« La cosmétique est devenue un
phénomène social », est-ce nouveau ?
La cosmétique est sociale depuis que les
hommes et les femmes vivent ensemble.
Loin d’être une activité frivole et
futile, elle représente un besoin intime
de l’être humain. Il est tout aussi noble
pour une femme de se mettre du rouge
à lèvres pour séduire que de prendre
soin d’elle, en savourant le plaisir de
l’application topique de produits qui lui
feront du bien, tout en la faisant rêver.
Et il est aussi noble pour les producteurs
de cosmétiques de considérer les
besoins sociaux de la femme. Nous le
faisons chez Clinique en proposant des
crèmes pour l’exposition solaire, pour
la vie en ville, contre les grands froids,
pour protéger la peau et en maintenir
toutes les fonctions, de façon à nous
permettre d’être bien dans notre peau,
pour longtemps.
Quelles voies ont été ouvertes par
la biologie du vieillissement de demain?
Est-ce que votre dernier-né, Youth
Surge, fait partie d’une nouvelle
génération de produits ?
En 1988, une de mes étudiantes
observa, et publia, que l’ultraviolet
provoque l’arrêt de la glycolyse (le
métabolisme du sucre et la production
d’énergie) tout comme les radiations
ionisantes (rayons X, rayons gamma,
etc.). Cela car, après irradiation, le
NAD (coenzyme d’oxydoréduction) est
dégradé pour réparer l’ADN endommagé.
Vingt ans plus tard, les cosmétiques
découvrent les sirtuines, des
enzymes qui sont surtout impliquées
dans le métabolisme de l’énergie. Elles
utilisent le NAD comme accepteur de
groupes acétyles. Nous sommes donc
à un stade de la cosmétique où l’on
s’intéresse beaucoup au métabolisme,
à la production d’énergie, à sa modifi
cation. L’épiderme est accessible, et
nous pouvons donc traiter la surface de
la peau de façon raisonnable et raisonnée.
Youth Surge appartient bel et bien
à cette génération de produits cosmétiques
qui vont s’occuper d’une réalité
accessible.
After teaching macromolecular
biochemistry at the Université
de Paris VI (Jussieu), Paolo
Giacomoni worked in the United
States and Germany before
coming to France, working fi rst at the
Centre International de Recherches
Dermatologiques in Sophia-Antipolis,
then in L’Oréal’s advanced research
laboratories. For the past 10 years, he
has worked at the Laboratoires Clinique
on Long Island, New York. He is married
(to one of his former Jussieu students)
and has four children “ready to fl y the
coop”: one of his daughters studies
artistic makeup in Paris, the other music
and acoustic engineering; and he has
two boys, one “good in math” and one
who is literary. The family lives in “a
typical American suburban house, with
a yard you have to mow every week and
oak trees whose leaves you have to rake
every fall. And also squirrels, moles and
raccoons, which are not adorable – far
from it. Sometimes, I understand the
Donald Duck cartoons,” he says. This
poetic, pragmatic scientist knows how to
share the passion he has for his work, with
immensely charming Italian gestures and
accent. But you shouldn’t place too much
trust there: with an Italian journalist
friend, he writes Gothic novels.
BBMag: Why make reference to
mythology and philosophy in your
scientifi c works?
Paolo Giacomoni. Science is not just
a collection of information. You have
to know how to choose the most
relevant from it and use it to understand a
larger framework. Without epistemology,
there is no science. Rabelais said “science
without conscience is but the ruin of the
soul,” and this is also true for the use
of science. I limit myself to considering
information of interest, trying to
understand just where its value lies and
at what moment information ceases to be
signifi cant: we don’t need the astronomy
of Copernicus to take our bearings in
the Mediterreranean Sea, nor the theory
of relativity to measure the speed of a
child on his bicycle, nor genetic cloning
to treat dry skin. What’s wonderful about
mythology is that it expresses existential
questions (thus also scientifi c questions)
in terms understandable to all: it is up to
us to push the limits of its meaning and
to fi nd the validity of the myth, even there
where science has started to build new
paradigms.
What philosophical myths and trends do
you feel an affi nity for and that help you
formalize your concepts?
I was extremely happy to discover, while
reading interviews with Karl Popper, that
a philosopher of this breadth expressed
in understandable terms exactly my
feelings vis-à-vis science and society.
“‘Those who speak incomprehensibly,’
he pretty much says, ‘either haven’t
understood what they are talking about,
or are hiding something.’” The myths
that inspire me are the myths of those
opposed to an established situation:
Prometheus, Perseus, Bellerophon, who
all did something outrageous, but the
myth is there to remind us that there is the
reality of the gods, which is untouchable,
and that of men, which can be modifi ed.
And then there are the myths of practical
intelligence: Ulysses pretended to be a
beggar so he could fi gure out what was
going on in Ithaca, before he revealed
that he was the legitimate king. One of
my sons, at age four, opened his eyes
wide and totally understood when I told
him this story. I did not, and still today, I
give it all away before comprehending a
situation.
How is culture necessary to
understanding living things, biology, in
your work?
In general, culture – that is, the
incorporation of the characteristics of
the society we live in – is important to
understanding science in general and
even more for understanding biology.
Anyone who thinks biology is there only to
supply techniques has already robotized
human beings. Laws and morals are two
different things. You have to know what
you are doing, even if it’s authorized by
law.
Why don’t cosmetics use these
cultural bridges more easily, to reach
consumers?
There are strange mechanisms in
the human soul. Before, to sell tires,
insecticides, beer or refrigerators, you
had to have the image of a woman half
dressed. Everybody did it… because
everybody did it. In cosmetics it’s the
same thing. But there are cosmetics
brands that have already started to ask
themselves philosophical questions, or
at least societal questions. Cosmetics
treatments speed up the healing of
people who have undergone plastic
reconstructive surgery and give a boost to
old people in retirement homes: I’ve been
saying this for years and I hope that a lot
of my colleagues will do so in the future.
In a recent interview at EMBO Reports
(the cultural magazine of the European
Molecular Biology Organization), I
explain that in the future, cosmetics will
be inspired more from observations
of children’s games or the behavior or
retired people than by applying the latest
RENCONTRE MEETING
Paolo Giacomoni Clinique R & D Executive Director
IS IT GOOD OR BAD TO WANT TO EXTEND THE LIFESPAN OF HUMAN LIFE, AND IN WHAT CONDITIONS? PAOLO GIACOMONI DOESN’T HESITATE
TO CITE THE MYTH OF AURORA AND TITHONUS TO INTRODUCE THE CONCEPT OF A NEW ANTI-AGE PRODUCT FROM CLINIQUE. WITH HIM,
LET’S ENTER INTO ANOTHER DIMENSION OF THE COSMETICS INDUSTRY.
“
Myths remind us
that there are two realities:
those of the gods
and those of men.
”
technique brewing in the retort of the
latest spinoffs from biotech university
startups.
What is up with the dream team you
belong to that’s working on the biology
of aging?
The European network of the biology
of aging has taken huge steps since its
beginnings in 1993. There is defi nite
progress in the understanding of arthritis,
skin aging, and the physiology of 100 yearolds.
A new European project is currently
being fi nanced and thanks to one of these
acronyms that the English have the secret
to, it is INFLAMAGE. Let’s admit that for
the person who introduced the concept of
skin aging accelerated by infl ammation
in 1995 (me, as it so happens), this bit of
satisfaction is quite narcissistic!
“Cosmetics have become a social
phenomenon.” Is this new?
Cosmetics have been social since men
and women have lived together. Far
from being a frivolous, futile activity, it
represents an intimate need of the human
being. It is just as noble for a woman to
put on lipstick to attract as to take care
of herself, savoring the pleasure of
topically applying the products that
are good for her, while causing her
to dream. And it is just as noble for
cosmetics producers to consider the
social needs of women. We do this
at Clinique by offering sun-tanning
creams, creams for life in the city,
against cold climates, to protect the
skin and maintain all of its functions,
to enable us to feel good about ourselves
for a long time.
What avenues have been opened by the
biology of aging of the future? Is your
latest product, Youth Surge, part of a
new generation of products?
In 1988, one of my students observed, and
published, that ultraviolet rays brought
about the stopping of glycolysis (the
metabolism of sugar and the production
of energy) just like ionizing radiations
(X-rays, gamma rays, etc.). This is
because, after irradiation, NAD (the
coenzyme of oxydo-reduction) is broken
down to repair damaged DNA. Twenty
years later, the cosmetics industry
discovered sirtuines, enzymes that
above all are involved in the metabolism
of energy. They use NAD as an acceptor
of acetyl groups. So we are at a stage of
cosmetics where we are very interested
in metabolism, in the production of
energy, in its modifi cation. The epidermis
is accessible, and so we can treat the skin
surface reasonably and with reasoning.
Youth Surge really does belong to this
generation of cosmetic products that are
going to busy themselves with accessible
reality.
03-2009 BEYOND BEAUTY MAG
15