Alliance Boots has renewed its partnership with the University of Manchester as part of its skincare research to create its flagship No7 serums.

The combined work has so far helped to improve Boots’ flagship No7 Protect & Perfect face serum, which it relaunched earlier this year and claimed to give customers even better anti-ageing results.

The partnership will run to the end of 2018. It is intended to further investigate the mechanisms by which human skin ages, and will help boost innovation within Boots’ product brands.

It is also studying skin from different ethnicities and anti-ageing technologies, including beauty devices.

Alliance Boots chief executive, wholesale and brands, Ornella Barra said: “It illustrates our continued commitment to investment and research in the UK, as well as our dedication to ensuring strong product innovation and scientific credentials across our brands. We have already achieved great success with the University and I believe, together, we will become a global leader in skin ageing research, which will help further drive the internationalisation of our product brands.”

Professor of Dermatology Chris Griffiths, who will lead the research team at The University of Manchester, added: “We can tell a lot about the overall health of a person from looking at their skin – this exciting new partnership will allow us to better understand how we age and why people age at different rates.”