Bio-Engineered Skin

You can now, apparently, add skin to the things you grow in a lab. This may sound rather ‘meh,’ but we can do a lot more than just a clump of cells. Previously, scientists have successfully been able to create the outer layer, or the epidermis. Now, we can actually create an entire organ—including its layer of fatty tissue, hair follicles, glands, and nerves.

What a time to be alive.

The team, led by Dr. Takashi Tsuji of the Riken Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, used stem cells to create the skin’s layers, which they have successfully transplanted onto a mouse. The experiment’s success was based on the mouse being able to grow hair and sweat through the bio-engineered skin.

Their research was published in Science Advances.