MCC is the entire environment that sustains living cells: peptides, proteins, lipids, sugars, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. It's harvested from salmon cell culture, which are grown like yeast in brewing tanks. In other words, we start with cells but they don't grow into an animal; they just thrive in a nutrient-rich environment and create all the bioactive molecules that then nourish and rejuvenate our skin.

True to its name, MCC is extremely complex. We might never understand all the mysteries within the tens of thousands of molecules within it. In contrast, standard bioactives are generally purified to be just one compound in isolation. Nature works differently, with infinite complexity. This complexity is what we capture and put in a bottle. As an example, people often ask why we don't isolate PDRN from MCC. We think that's like isolating only the carrots from a delicious bowl of minestrone soup; it will never be as good as all the ingredients together.

Absolutely. MCC is created and tuned by cells to become a physiologically nourishing environment. pH is neutral, ions (osmolarity) are balanced and its physical properties are more similar to pure water than anything else.

Yes, the INCI name for MCC is: salmon mesenchymal cell conditioned media.

MCC has been called PDRN+ (PDRN PLUS), salmon stem cell conditioned media, and Pacific salmon peptides.

MCC is created by cells that came from one juvenile salmon in 2018. Since that time, we have had no reason to return to the animal, and all production is animal-free. Because everything originated from that one fish, MCC is technically not vegan, although everything used for production is vegan. This is why we've received support from PETA and other vegan activist groups, and why MCC production is cruelty-free.

Unlike conventional sources of PDRN and fish products today, MCC is 100% traceable. All of it is made in a former San Francisco brewery.

The pink color is partially from a form of vitamin B12 called cyanocobalamin, which we use to feed our salmon cells. It's also partially from beta carotene derivatives, which are also the molecules that give salmon its orange/red color.

No. Despite being packed with tens of thousands of fish-specific regenerative molecules, MCC has a neutral odor profile, which makes it perfect for topical applications.

Although the marvels of gene editing have brought us everything from effective cancer treatments to drought-resistant crops, our salmon cells are not so interesting. They haven't been edited (are not GMO) and therefore produce the thousands of molecules in MCC the old-fashioned way.

The MCC production process was initially developed to create cultivated salmon, which has undergone extremely rigorous testing and is deemed safe to eat. This is generally a much higher bar than topical application or mesodermal injection. However, the potential for allergenicity always exists and we recommend patch testing if you have sensitive skin.