Tanu Recovery Serum

Tanu came from a frustration I had with the 'recovery' category. Most products in it are silicone-thickened creams designed to feel soothing - without any meaningfully researched active inside them. In regenerative medicine, the principle is to work with the body's own biology, not against it. GHK-Cu is a peptide your plasma makes naturally - and one researchers have studied for decades. Tanu is the recovery layer I wanted on my own shelf.

- Rashmi Joshi, Founder

Tanu is built on a principle drawn from the regenerative biology literature: that skin responds best to ingredients which work alongside its natural processes. The active architecture pairs two molecules anchored in aging research — Copper Tripeptide-1 and Alpha-Ketoglutaric Acid — both passively loaded into a biomimetic phospholipid carrier, alongside a peptide researched in connection with visibly reactive skin and a complex of ceramides identical to those found in healthy skin.

Copper Tripeptide-1 (GHK-Cu), liposomally encapsulated - a naturally-occurring human tripeptide-copper complex. GHK is a peptide first isolated from human plasma by Loren Pickart in 1973. Research has documented that plasma GHK concentrations decline measurably with age - from approximately 200 ng/mL in the third decade of life to ~80 ng/mL by the sixth. The peptide has been extensively studied across the dermatology and regenerative-biology literature, including research on its role in fibroblast biology (Pickart & Margolina, Cosmetics, 2018) and broader gene-expression research spanning tissue-remodeling, antioxidant-defense, and DNA-repair pathways (Pickart et al., Int J Mol Sci, 2018).

Raw GHK-Cu is hydrophilic and structurally large. In Tanu, GHK-Cu is housed within soy lecithin phospholipid bilayers - a carrier structure that mirrors the architecture of natural cell membranes. Liposomal encapsulation has been extensively studied in the cosmetic formulation literature as a means of stabilizing peptides in topical formulations (El Maghraby et al., Arch Dermatol Res, 2012), with research on peptide carrier systems dating back several decades (Vora et al., J Pharm Sci, 1995).

Alpha-Ketoglutaric Acid — a TCA cycle intermediate and mitochondrial cofactor. AKG is a small-molecule metabolite at the nexus of cellular energy production, functioning as a cofactor for prolyl-4-hydroxylase (central to collagen biology) and a substrate for histone demethylases involved in epigenetic regulation. AKG has become a focus of contemporary aging research — a 2020 Cell Metabolism study from the Buck Institute documented its association with extended lifespan and reduced frailty in aging mice (Asadi Shahmirzadi et al., Cell Metabolism, 2020), building on earlier Nature research documenting its interaction with ATP synthase and TOR signaling pathways (Chin et al., Nature, 2014). In Tanu, AKG is dissolved alongside Copper Tripeptide-1 before liposome formation — both molecules are passively loaded into the same biomimetic phospholipid carriers.

Acetyl Tetrapeptide-40 - a peptide studied in connection with visibly reactive skin. Researched in the context of VEGF biology and the appearance of reactive, visibly red-looking skin - an area of active investigation in cosmetic science.

Ceramide Complex - lipids identical to those naturally found in healthy skin. Ceramides comprise approximately half of the stratum corneum's intercellular lipid lamellae and have been documented to decline measurably with age, sun exposure, and barrier-disruptive events. Topical ceramide research is an established area within dermatology and cosmetic science.

GHK-Cu is the most-studied member of the copper-peptide family. Alpha-Ketoglutaric Acid sits at the center of recent metabolic aging research. Acetyl Tetrapeptide-40 is researched in connection with capillary-related visible redness. Ceramides are the structural lipids of healthy skin. Liposomal carriers are a well-established cosmetic technology. Recovery, formulated as a system.