Welcome to the L'OREAL Research website.

			Since the company was founded in 1907 by the chemist Eugne Schueller, scientific research has always been the heart of the L'Oréal Group's strategy. The performance, safety and quality of our products rely on this continuous search for innovative scientific advances. More than 3% of the Group's turnover is invested in R & D every year and over the past ten years, L'Oréal's research budget has increased fourfold. In 2002, this equated to 469 million euros. Research centres in France, Japan and the United States employ over 2,800 staff working in 30 different specialist fields such as chemistry, biology and toxicology. Unusually for the industry, L'Oréal is one of the few companies able to carry out all stages of research and development, starting with advanced research into hair and skin. The Group focuses its work on the following three sectors: Advanced Research aims to prepare for the future by concentrating on innovations for the next ten years. Through advanced research, L'Oréal aims to understand the fundamental mechanisms that govern skin and hair, for example hair loss and pigmentation. Advanced Research is also responsible for the creation of new molecules upon which the development of new products depends. Applied Research prepares for the medium term. On the basis of synthesised molecules produced by the Applied Research teams or proposed by external suppliers, the Applied Research teams improve cosmetic products and study new concepts. More than 3,000 new formulas are created each year. Development deals with the short term. Working in close partnership with the marketing teams, the development laboratories design products on the basis of innovations proposed by the Applied Research branch. Significant research achievements of recent years include skin models, Ceramide R and sun filters. In the 1980s, L'Oréal scientists succeeded in reconstructing skin through cell engineering. Today these skin models are routinely used for biological research and for evaluating the safety and efficacy of products. Ceramide R is a synthetic ceramide, which repairs the cuticle of damaged hair, strengthening it and making the hair shine. Discovered in 1989, it first appeared in a L'Oréal Elvive shampoo in 1995. The first photostable UVA and UVB filter, Mexoryl XL has been incorporated in all the L'Oréal Group's sun protection products in the UK since 1999. Click here to find out more about L'Oréal Research.
			As part of its commitment to the promotion and development of young scientists in the UK, L'Oréal has partnered with the Royal Institution to recognise and encourage scientific talent through the Science Graduate of the Year Award. Set up in 2000, the L'Oréal - Royal Institution Science Graduate of the Year Award is open to young researchers in British and Irish universities who have not yet submitted their doctOréal thesis. The Award recognises high quality research of a ground-breaking nature, which shows originality and the will to innovate. The successful candidate receives 6,000 and life membership of the Royal Institution. The winner in 2003, Araxi Urrutia Odabachian, a postgraduate student from Bath University, was awarded the prize for her research into molecular evolution and the human genome. Araxi worked on developing computer scripts to retrieve and manage the vast amounts of data containing information about human genes. Previous winners - In 2002, Haimei Chen (pictured) of Edinburgh University received the Award for her research into anticancer drugs, using a special organic coating for metal based drugs which target the DNA bases of cancer cells with greater accuracy than traditional chemotherapeutic drugs. Graham Taylor from Oxford University was awarded the prize in 2001 for his pioneering work on animal flight. His research crossed disciplines to combine biology and aerodynamics in his investigation into how insects have evolved to overcome the problems of stability in flight. The first winner, Mark Tito, also from Oxford University, was credited for his research into the efficacy of vaccines against bubonic plague and other life-threatening diseases. For more information about the Royal Institution visit www.rigb.org

As a company whose origins are deeply rooted in scientific research, L'Oréal is particularly keen to promote the role of women in science: 55% of research staff at L'Oréal are women. In 1998, in partnership with UNESCO, L'Oréal initiated an international programme called "For Women in Science".

Each year, the programme selects five Laureates representing the five continents and fifteen additional Fellowships. The aim of the programme is to honour established women scientists and to help encourage young women researchers to continue their careers. Among the 2001 Laureates was the UK's Dr Anne McLaren (pictured), Principle Research Associate at the Wellcome / CRC Institute in Cambridge, who received the award for her pioneering work in reproductive biology.

In 2002, the Laureate for Europe was awarded to another British scientist, Dr Mary Osborn of the Max Planck Institute of Biophysical Chemistry in Germany, where she has developed techniques to observe cell structure.

Originally set up to recognise women working in the life sciences, the Award was extended in 2003 to acknowledge women working in material sciences. In the same year, the value of the Awards was increased to $100,000 for each Laureate.

Click here for more information on the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award

Eugne Schueller, the chemist who founded L'Oréal in 1907, was the inventor of the world's first synthetic hair colorants.
3% of the L'Oréal Group's consolidated sales is invested in R&D every year. In 2002, this equated to 469 million euros.
55% of L'Oréal research staff are women.
In the last three years, L'Oréal has registered more than 1,400 patents, including 501 in 2002.
More than 120 new molecules have been patented and used by L'Oréal over the last 40 years.