In order to evaluate the potential market of bacteria detection of cosmetics, as well as to abttain some suggestions from stakeholders, we conducted an online questionaire and some interviews with experts in different fields. Through these human practices, we aimed to furtherly polish our business plan and the product development process. Based on the principle of interaction and reciprocity，we comprehensively analyzed datas and information got from the public and experts.

1. Distribution of participants in questionnaire filling.

Figure 1

Since our team is mainly composed of high school students and we distribute questionnaires through people we know, 58.65% of the respondents are under the age of 18. 23.31 were aged 18-35, 17.29% were aged 35-55, and 0.75% were over 55. Women accounted for 87.97% and men accounted for 12.03%. The remaining two graphs show the occupational distribution and income of the respondents.Most of the participants in our questionnaire are students with an income of less than 5000. The second largest group of people who participated in our survey were company employees with an income of between 10,000 and 20,000.

2. Do you worry about the safety of cosmetics?

Figure 2

Among the people who fill out our questionnaire, 36.84% are very worried about the safety of cosmetics, and 28.57% are sometimes worried about the safety of cosmetics. 18.05% of the people have no obvious attitude towards this issue, and 16.54% of the people do not often or even do not worry about the safety of cosmetics. These data show that there are many potential users of our cosmetic safety testing reagents, and as long as they are worried about the safety of cosmetics, they are likely to buy our products. At the same time, these data also show that people's understanding of relevant issues is not very deep, the lack of relevant knowledge of popular science, resulting in some people have not realized the serious consequences of this problem, after our education, they may have a higher awareness of cosmetic safety protection, so as to become our target population.

3 Do you know the expiration date of cosmetics?

Figure 3

4. Do you pay attention to the storage environment and tightness when storing cosmetics ?

Figure 4

5. Have you ever been allergic to cosmetics ?

 

 

 

Figure 5

After our survey, there are still 19.55% people who do not know the expiration time of cosmetics and 30.08% of people who do not pay attention to the tightness of cosmetics storage. In addition, there are some bias in our questionnaire, and this proportion may be higher in real situations. Even if some people know the expiration time of cosmetics, they may not remember or are unwilling to throw away expired cosmetics, so our science popularization is very important.65.41% of people have occasional or frequent allergic reactions, which reflects the necessity of our products and the large number of customers.

6. If there is such a quick check product, what aspects of it would you care more about?

Figure 6

The results of our questionnaire show that 75.94% of people care more about the practicality of cosmetics express products, 60.15% care about its accuracy and price, and 50.38% care about efficiency. Our products are more efficient than existing testing institutions or products on the market, and the time to produce results is very short, and due to our technological improvement and our specificity to the two bacteria, our accuracy is also improved, and the cost is lower.

7. What is the price you can accept for each box? (6 per box)

Figure 7

Through our cost and pricing strategy, we finally get a price of 29.9 yuan per box. In our questionnaire, 66.17% of people can accept a price of more than 20 yuan.

 

 

Figure 8

 

Through our questionnaire, we found that 70.68% of the people who accepted our questionnaire were willing to buy our products.

 

To conclude, the outcome of online survey has shown some key information, including but not limited to the following：

（1）cosmetic safety has become an important topic of concern in people's daily lives，among which the number of bacteria in cosmetic impacts people's assessment of the safety of cosmetics;  

（2）there is a relatively broad potential market for cosmetic testing and detection, which is worth further exploring;

（3）affordable and effective household quick detection products will be favored by people.

 

1.Interview with Mr. He Tao, Associate Researcher, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, August 16th, 2023.

Figure 9

On August 16^th, we designed some questions based on our project and interviewed Researcher He Tao from Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He is a scholar focusing in the field of approches to control microorganisms, who may provide us with many rational suggestions for our project, especially in terms of biological principles of bacterial testing and market transformation of lab achievements.

In terms of the differences between Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Professor He firstly introduce to us that the two kind of bactreia differ greatly in the transmission routine. Staphylococcus aureus is a foodborne bacterium that can be mainly transmitted through food and can also be zoonotic, while people are more likely to be infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa when their immunity is low, especially with some exposed wounds. That’s to say, both the bacteria above may be unable to cause terrible damages to people merely in the process of using some cosmetics. However, it never means the risks that are burdened in cosmetics should be ignored. Instead, considering the frequency of cosmetics using in daily life, they always contact with our skin tissue. If there is a slight carelessness, the Staphylococcus aureus and  Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the cosmetics can easily enter the mouth and skin wounds. Furtherly, if the number and toxicity of bacteria are large enough, people are in deep risk of being infected. In a word, investing in the detection of  Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cosmetics has  significant social significance and market prospects.

There have been several kinds of bacterial detection technologies applied in the markert. Professor He separately introduced to us main relevant technologies exsisting in the filed of bacterial detection, including some traditional methods such as bacterial staining, bacterial classification and cultivation; some emerging techniques such as gene testing, macro gene sequencing and isothermal amplification enzymes. The rapid detection methods are also included, amog which the most essential one is the crispr technology we have adopted this time. Afterwards, Professor He also gave us a specific explanation of the advantages and disadvantages of each technology, inspiring us to better analyze the capabilities of our competitors.

Considering that the final product will be applied in family, we must balance the complex technical principles and the demand of convenient application for costumers. Faced with this problem, Professor He thinks that compared to other testing companies, our advantage is that the final fast detection box is more convenient for ordinary cosmetic users, which does not require special instruments and the efficency of which is relatively high. And furtherly, we must pay attention to how to achieve this advantage through technical means, so as to better open up our market. Specifically, our detection box needs to be heated so as to achieve the temperature condition under which the result could come out. It troubles us in the method of heating it in the household scene. Professor He’s suggestion is that we can put a simple heating device, such as an eight tube, in the detection box, which can make it more convenient and easy for customers to use.

 

2.Interview with Dr. Wang Dongfeng, Deputy Chief Physician of Emergency Surgery, People's Hospital of Wuhan University, Aug 17th, 2023

Figure 10

On August 17^th, we interviewed Dr. Wang, the deputy chief physician of Emergency Surgery in People's Hospital of Wuhan University. Since Dr. Wang worked in the hospital, we set 6 questions related to his job and his career field before the interview, planning to consult him to get some advice for our project and product.

First of all, We need to understand the audience area of our products and the current popularity, and find a way to popularize, so we asked Director Wang: in terms of hospital people's awareness of microbial infection how to improve. Professor Wang give us some advise such as community outreach, etc., which gives guidance for our education section.

Then, as we focused on researching P. aeruginosa and S. aureus, we asked him diseases caused by the two bacteria and how to treat the infections they bring in order to learn the great harm of them. Professor Wang told us that depending on the severity of the condition, treatment can range from intravenous antibiotics to systemic hemodialysis. Due to the serious of the infection, our product is useful among the general public.

Finally, we asked him about the product design of our current project and how it could be adapted to the industry. Director Wang affirmed our design and believed that it has great social significance for the detection of two kinds of fungi. In addition, he gave three suggestions for product design: （1）A specimen is paired with a kit, and multiple specimens cannot be tested with a kit；（2）A sterile bottle should be placed in the package to ensure that the sample is not contaminated；（3）Mark on the package that if the product is damaged, do not use it, and put it in the medical trash can after use. The advice given by Professor Wang is very relevant and effective, which has a great influence on our product design. Professor Wang also put forward some competitive suggestions for our products to be sold in the market, such as the accuracy rate is greater than 95%, and the detection time is less than one day. Products with these characteristics can help us occupy a larger share of the market, so Professor Wang's comments are also of great help to improve our products. After discussion with Professor Wang, we modified and improved the product design.

 

3.Interview with Dr. Zhao Huaizhi, Deputy chief physician, Master of Medicine, now working in Shanghai Fengxian District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Figure 11

We contacted Dr. Zhao Huaizhi, who specialized in alopecia, eczema, dermatitis, acne, psoriasis to give us some advices and instructions on our product. Cosidering Zhao’s major is Chinese Medicine, in the principles of which, there are many differences to Western Medicine, we mainly tried to learn from him the limitations of traditional Chinese Medicine therapy in detecting bacterial infections.

First, We asked him if he had ever treated a patient with a skin infection caused by cosmetic contamination. But the answer we got is ‘no’. At the same time, Dr. Zhao said that there might be skin infection if there is a wound that touched makeups. If the skin tissue is intact, there is little chance of infection. For the infection, the main reason is S. And P. The differences between the two bacteria also lead to different symptoms and treatments.

Since Dr. Zhao's major specialty is Chinese medicine, we also asked some questions about Chinese medicine. For example, how Chinese medicine diagnoses the severity of skin diseases in patients, and the treatment methods are different from those of Western medicine. Doctor Zhao answered that the diagnosis of traditional Chinese medicine mainly looks at the redness, swelling and heat pain on the patient's skin to judge the severity. In terms of drug use, Western medicine mainly uses antibiotics to cure bacterial infections, but taking too many antibiotics is easy to produce resistance, and it is difficult to find alternative antibiotics. Chinese medicine, on the other hand, uses some heat-clearing and detoxifying drugs, which also have antibacterial effects.

 

 

Through the practice above-mentioned,not only have we comprehensively understood the potential market for cosmetic bacterial detection kits, but also received relevant suggestions for optimizing product form furtherly. Specifically, we should continuously optimize the temperature control, price setting, and detection accuracy around the occurrence of the detection kits .