Cosmetics manufacturer L'Oréal is teaming up with bioengineering start-up Organovo to begin 3D-printing human skin. L'Oréal already grows human skin samples:
L'Oréal currently grows skin samples from tissues donated by plastic surgery patients. It produces more than 100,000, 0.5 sq cm skin samples per year and grows nine varieties across all ages and ethnicities.
Its statement explaining the advantage of printing skin, offered little detail: "Our partnership will not only bring about new advanced in vitro methods for evaluating product safety and performance, but the potential for where this new field of technology and research can take us is boundless."
Organovo has previously offered 3D-printed liver tissue for researchers and pharmaceutical companies:
"It was unclear how liver-like the liver structures were," said Alan Faulkner-Jones, a bioengineering research scientist at Heriot Watt university. Printing skin could be a different proposition, he thinks. "Skin is quite easy to print because it is a layered structure," he told the BBC. "The advantages for the cosmetics industry would be that it doesn't have to test products on animals and will get a better response from human skin."
But printed skin has more value in a medical scenario, he thinks. "It would be a great thing to have stores of spare skins for burn victims."
(Score: 2) by rts008 on Thursday May 21 2015, @12:12AM
I think Shatner should have to be behind Donald Trump in that line. (just my opinion, YMMV)
Is Shatner bigger than Trump? I've never seen them side by side, or even in the same pic.
(Score: 2) by ilPapa on Thursday May 21 2015, @02:45AM
Their egos can be seen from space.
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 2) by rts008 on Thursday May 21 2015, @01:18PM
LOL!!!
Maybe the combined masses of those two egos are the source of that Dark Matter the astrophysicists are wondering about.
If the universe finds it as repelling as I do, that could account for the expansion of the universe as it tries to get away!
(Score: 2) by mendax on Thursday May 21 2015, @04:36AM
A Google search reveals that he is 5 ft. 9 in. or 10 in. tall, depending upon who you want to listen to. But there is a reason why my mom always referred to him as "Tubby". So, physically he's not tall, but he's definitely not skinny.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 2) by rts008 on Thursday May 21 2015, @01:11PM
'Back in the day' he would be called 'husky', and clothing came in 'Husky' sizes for us fat kids. (then the term changed to 'stocky')