My name is: Ben Van Handel.

My stomping ground is: I’m from the Midwest originally, but have been in LA for the last fifteen years.

I’m known for being: Passionate about science and harnessing its potential to improve our lives! Graduate school at UCLA brought me out here, and I can't get away because I’ve found some incredible people who share my fascination with stem cells and developing ways of helping them thrive.

I'm talking about: Heraux Molecular Anti-Inflammaging Serum. This product contains HX-1, a proprietary molecule we spent ten years discovering and optimizing to combat the aging induced by chronic inflammation. HX-1 and molecules like it are my life’s work and I strongly believe they’ll make a huge impact on our health spans.

You can find it at: On our website, herauxskin.com, as well as with Revolve, The Conservatory, Materiae and others.

Before I started this work, I was: A PhD student at UCLA. My desire to see groundbreaking science get out of the lab and into the world drove me to become a founder.

My interest was sparked when: I heard my future PhD mentor give a talk. Her commitment to and love for her work was immediately apparent, and her immense belief in the power and potential of stem cells was inspirational. 

What inspired me to create it was: Too often great science doesn’t leave the lab. I wanted to see our work benefit real people, every day.

The idea behind it is: Chronic inflammation is awful for stem cells. It causes them severe stress, resulting in accelerated aging. This relationship between inflammation and aging resulted in the coining of the term “inflammaging.” This is a burgeoning field of biomedical research that spans many age-related conditions. HX-1, which is found exclusively in Heraux Molecular Anti-Inflammaging Serum, is the world’s first molecule to specifically target the molecular mechanism that drives inflammaging, shielding stem cells from pro-inflammaging environments and concurrently promoting a healthy regenerative response. 

What makes it different is: To our knowledge, HX-1 is the first (of hopefully many) molecules that will target inflammaging. We believe managing inflammaging will dramatically improve the health span of not only the skin, but potentially our whole bodies. Can you imagine the potential of that?

One thing you can’t miss is: In a clinical study of HX-1, some users saw reductions in the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles of up to 85% in eight weeks. And this was measured and calculated by a computer, not by eye!

My favorite secret detail is: We started our search for a molecule that combats inflammaging by testing almost 250,000 molecules—that’s why it took us ten years to perfect HX-1!

What it means to find balance is: Biology is driven by balance. Our cells and bodies strive to achieve equilibrium, and the easier we make it for this to happen the better they perform. We all struggle to achieve balance and these struggles drive stress. Science can make it just a little easier for balance to be in reach by reducing cellular and molecular stress. Balance enabled by science!

What makes balance so important is: To be imbalanced means reduced potential. Our world is facing some daunting challenges, so if we can all (including our stem cells!) perform just a little bit closer to peak potential, we may just find ourselves closer to understanding our interconnectivity and interdependence.