Microscopist, Skin Scientist & Consultant

JMC Scientific Consulting Ltd

Biography

I have worked for over 20 years in the cosmetics industry, including Procter and Gamble and more recently with GSK.  In 2012 I set up my own consultancy – JMC Scientific Consulting Ltd, based in Egham, UK.  My experience ranges from new product research with novel materials, through to developing and running clinical studies to provide claims support data for product launches. Even when I was in a corporate environment I worked across multiple project areas at any one time to translate the needs of the individual teams into executable study designs and plans. Research areas worked on include moisturisers, cleansers, and hair removal methods (shaving, waxing, epilation, depilatory creams, light based hair removal).  I now work with clients to help them understand how their products work and how to improve them, as well as spending my time researching novel methodologies and imaging techniques to help push the industry forward.

Photography has always been a passion of mine, and a current focus area for my research is UV imaging, and how it can be used to visualise skin and sunscreens. UV imaging is extremely challenging, with a unique set of complexities above and beyond standard colour photography, and my research often requires me to build equipment to help with my work where nothing suitable is commercially available. An example of this is my work from 2017-18 in which I built the first cross polarized UV imaging system, to enable imaging of sunscreen film morphology after spreading by eliminating the shine from the surface of the film. In 2020 I built a UV transmission microscope with the goal of imaging different sunscreen components to help with formulation development and optimization. I keep my website up to date with any non-confidential work I am doing, as I’m a firm believer that openness in scientific research is the best way to move it forwards.

I have a very hands on approach to science and am experienced with the operation and use of a wide range of skin testing equipment including Corneometer, Sebumeter, TEWL, Colourimetry, Confocal In-vivo Raman Spectroscopy (for hydration profiles, NMF and ceramide monitoring and ingredient penetration), photographic imaging techniques (UV, visible and IR), microscopy, skin grading, tape stripping and SEM, and clinical test design.

After building my expertise in the skin methods field I also became more involved with teaching the science of skin measurement, to audiences from Dermatologists to Journalists and Marketing groups. I am also strongly linked with Academic research, having overseen a number of projects with different universities. I have authored over 40 papers and book chapters, with an emphasis on skin measurement and imaging, and the validation of techniques to prove what they can (and in some cases cannot) do. I am also a reviewer for the International Journal of Cosmetic Science and other journals.

I graduated from Durham University with a BSc in Chemistry in 1994, and went on to do a PhD in Surface Modification and Analysis which I completed in 1997, and loved the research so much that I stayed on for an extra 3 years as a Post Doctoral research assistant. During this time I developed a strong Analytical chemistry background with a wide variety of surface analytical techniques (XPS, Auger, ToF SIMS, Raman, ATR-IR, SEM and TEM, AFM) for materials analysis, along with cold plasma treatment of materials for the manufacture of metal surfaces and ultra-low energy materials.

It is the ‘cross discipline’ background I have from working at the boundaries between chemistry, physics and engineering, which I have now applied to my assessment of skin. I apply a strongly analytical and critical approach to my work, and am known for being open and impartial and working with the highest integrity. I’m also a scientist through and through, and am driven to question and understand how the world works.

Please contact me if you want to know more – jonathan@jmcscientificconsulting.com