The cosmetics and personal care industry, valued at over $500 billion globally, is increasingly turning to biomanufacturing as a sustainable and scalable solution for producing key ingredients. According to market research firm Grand View Research, the global bio-based cosmetics market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.5% through 2030, driven by consumer demand for sustainable and ethical products.
Manus, a bioalternatives company, is working to overcome one of the major hurdles in biomanufacturing: efficient intracellular product recovery. We spoke to Christine Santos, Chief Technology Officer at Manus, who shared insights on how the company’s research and development processes are reshaping ingredient production for the sector.
Addressing key challenges in biomanufacturing
Yeast-based systems play a crucial role in producing bio-based ingredients, but recovering intracellular products remains a challenge. “Yeasts are amazing cell factories that can perform complex chemistries to make numerous natural products, Santos explained, ”however, they are also extremely hardy – their cell walls can resist up to 20 atmospheres of internal pressure.“
As a result, this poses a financial and functional challenge to extract products that accumulate inside the cells, she said.
To address this, Manus is developing a novel programmed lysis approach supported by BioMADE’s sustainable, domestic, end-to-end bioindustrial manufacturing ecosystem. “Rather than using mechanical force or chemical solvents to weaken or destroy the cell wall, we are aiming to outsource that work to the cells themselves,” Santos said.
“By programming yeasts to conditionally make enzymes that destabilize or degrade their own cell walls at the end of the fermentation,” she explained, “we can get a significant head start on product separation – saving time, money, and reducing the use of harmful chemicals.”
Another pressing concern in biomanufacturing is scalability, and Manus is testing its engineered yeast strains at its BioFacility in Augusta, Georgia. “Genetic strategies like this are highly scalable because they are engineered into the cell factory rather than reliant on specialized processing equipment,” Santos shared.
“During this work, we will test our engineered cell factories at pilot scale (300L fermentors),” she explained, which will “give us practical insights into the performance and scalability of the technology.”
Impact on cosmetics and personal care
The programmed lysis approach could bring significant benefits to the cosmetics and personal care industry, particularly for lipid-soluble natural products such as fatty acids, fatty alcohols, triacylglycerides, terpenes, sterol esters, and retinol. “In addition, production of peptides that are not secreted well, like collagen, could greatly benefit from this approach,” Santos noted.
Enhanced recovery methods will also improve cost efficiency and sustainability. “Improved recovery lowers production cost for consumers, increases conversion yield from raw materials, and reduces chemical and energy use during downstream processing,” she said. “All of these have direct sustainability and cost benefits for the personal care industry and its consumers.”
Sustainability and regulatory considerations
Eliminating or reducing solvent use in ingredient recovery has significant environmental benefits, “both reducing the environmental burden of its production – which requires raw materials like petroleum and intense heat and energy – as well as decreasing the associated health, safety, and environmental risks of operating a process and facility that requires its use,” Santos explained.
From a regulatory standpoint, bioalternatives align with existing frameworks. “By following Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), safety assessment protocols, and ingredient transparency requirements established by regulatory bodies,” she shared, “bioalternatives enable the production of high-purity, sustainable, and well-characterized ingredients that meet strict toxicological, safety, and efficacy standards.”
For cosmetics and personal care product manufacturers and suppliers, advancements in bioalternatives for product formulations are therefore attractive options to those looking to reduce environmental impact to align with evolving regulatory standards.
Future prospects and industry integration
Beyond ingredient recovery, the technology presents new market opportunities. For example, Santos illustrated, “large-scale biomanufacturers can sell their yeast biomass co-product as animal feed, which is often sold on a basis of accessible protein content and is particularly useful for applications like aquaculture that require high protein content feeds.”
Looking ahead, Manus is focused on piloting and integrating this technology into commercial biomanufacturing. “At the end of this project (2026), we will have piloted our technology up to 300L fermentation scale and captured performance data on yeasts engineered for cell lysis,” Santos concluded. “We are looking forward to also partnering with BioMADE to make our technology available for pilot trials to interested parties within the biomanufacturing community.”
