About us
Meet the Founder
Dr. Nilufar Rahimova, MPharm, PhD
Pharmaceutical Scientist • Skincare Formulator • Founder of NILCEUTICA
Master and Doctor of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan)
Postdoctoral Training, Departments of Pharmacology and Rheumatology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
With over 12 years of biomedical research experience at leading institutions such as Kyoto University and the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Nilufar Rahimova brings scientific depth and uncompromising integrity to every NILCEUTICA formulation.
Driven by a personal need for effective, no-nonsense skincare and struggling with very dry and sensitive skin, she created NILCEUTICA to bridge the gap between pharmaceutical science and the sensory pleasure of skincare. As a scientist, she formulates every product from scratch in-house — choosing each ingredient based on clinical data, not marketing trends.
Her approach blends the precision of high-performance cosmeceuticals at their top clinically tested concentrations with the healing power of botanicals. Each product is crafted in small batches to ensure maximum potency, stability, and absorption — without fillers, water, or shortcuts.
But it’s not just about performance. Dr. Rahimova believes that skincare should also be a ritual of care. That’s why every formula is designed to feel luxurious, melting into the skin with textures that transform your routine into a moment of calm and pleasure. This also ensures the consistency of the routine.
“I formulate each product as if I were making it for someone I love — because your skin deserves more than marketing.”
About my work in academia
At the department of Pharmacology, Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania we have been working on finding new therapeutic targets for triple-negative breast cancers and androgen-independent prostate cancer.
We identified potential candidates (the top candidate was PKCa protein) that drive PD-LI up-regulation in both aggressive cancers.
We found that some cell lines respond to PD-L1 suppression, which is an immunotherapy target. The elevated levels of this protein and all downstream in this pathway can be the main reason why many patients don't respond to immunotherapy. This can also be used as a diagnostic tool to predict the patients who will respond and the success rate. The manuscripts are in preparation.
In the Department of Rheumatology, I was in charge of researching the biological reasons for a genetic TREX1 mutation that leads to the deadly rare genetic disease of RVCL. We designed several small-molecule inhibitors and CRIPR-Cas 9 gene editing systems as potential treatment options for current patients at University of Pennsylvania Hospital.