An infectious diseases specialist, Dr Abdul Ghafur has been looking at “superbugs” – drug-resistant organisms like bacteria -for the last two decades. Now he’s looking to tap the potential of the good bugs .
“I am a bug expert, and I’ve been working in the superbug world for the last 20 years, and that’s a bad bug. But… 99.99 percent of the bugs in the world are good bugs,” says the doctor, explaining why he seeks to “encourage utilising the good bugs to their best potential.” His fledgling start-up FragraGenomics attempts to do just that.
The month-old venture combines his expertise as an infection specialist and interest and reading on fragrances (including perfume chemistry, notes, enzymes, process technology), Ghafur told businessline, outlining plans to support perfume-sellers personalise products for customers, for example.
The larger intent, though, is to promote microbiome-friendly products (as compared to synthetic products including some creams and perfumes that kill microbiomes), through online consultations, e-commerce sites and at some stage, stand-alone stores, says Ghafur, an infectious diseases consultant at Chennai’s Apollo Cancer Hospital.
Microbiomes are a community of naturally occurring germs within a defined space, such as, the body, explains the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And microbial communities are found on the skin and gut, for example.
“The skin is a live organ,” says Ghafur, adding, perfume performance depends on skin chemistry, for instance. Perfumes are volatile organic compounds affected by the pH, moisture level and temperature of the skin, he says, pointing to wrong buying patterns, of going by fragrance alone.
Perfumes have three notes – the top, mid and base note – “the top note disappears in five to 15 minutes, the mid note in three to four hours and the base note in six to eight hours. So what you get in a tissue paper or on hand within one minute is a top note,” he explains.
He added that it is the mid note that is the main component of the perfume. People then end-up with products that do not work for them, and as a result tonnes of perfume bottles are dumped, sometimes half-empty, in landfills.
Microbiome-based algo
Ghafur has designed an algorithm as part of a technical process that combines skin microbiome insights, fragrance chemistry and personal biological factors that help customize perfume recommendation, he says.
“This is not just a software but a technical process that leads to a tangible outcome, he explains, adding that he has applied for a patent on it. This would be made available at sale points to help match the perfume to one’s skin. While personalization is offered by some perfume companies”, he claims, his microbiome-based algorithm would provide deeper insights, like the compositions that would work.
Published on July 6, 2025
