Molecular Horizons Seminar - Associate Professor Phil Barker

Over 2000 Australians will die from skin cancer this year. There is no sign of this typical annual number coming down and we remain at (or near) the top of global league tables for rates of both melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers. With our extreme levels of incident UV and a high proportion of the population with vulnerable skin types, one might expect that our sunscreens would be the best available – but unfortunately, this is clearly not the case. In this talk I'll cover several topic areas starting with a review of our recent paper in the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology, B: Biology 'The dynamic behaviour of sunscreens under in-service conditions' and the results presented therein. This work shows how the protective capability of your sunscreen will change on days with a different UV Index. I will include a discussion on how much sunscreen to put on, then move on to 'things to look out for in the labelling of sunscreens': the re-application times, the active ingredients, preservatives, excipients and storage lifetimes. Finally, I will cover a few points of interest in the latest list of 'Active Ingredients' as included in the Therapeutic Goods (Permissible Ingredients) Determination [No 1] 2021.