Latest news with #Lab-GrownLeather
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Fearsome to fashion: Your next accessory could be made from real T. rex
When it roamed the Earth 80 million years ago, a 40-foot-long Tyrannosaurus rex was one of nature's most terrifying prospects. Soon, it could be a purse. A group of researchers and bio-engineers in the U.K. say they're working to produce high-end clutches and totes with T. rex skin grown from fossilized remains of the ancient carnivore. The team is seeking to grow sustainable leather using collagen from the beast sometimes known as the King of the Dinosaurs that last lived 68 million years ago in North America and Asia. If successful, the project will be the first example of leather developed from an extinct species. The project's developers say the lab-grown material will be fully biodegradable and structurally identical to traditional leather. It will also be 'innovative and ethically sound,' Che Connon, professor of tissue engineering at Newcastle University, said in a statement. Connon also works for biotechnology company Lab-Grown Leather, which is developing the project with Dutch creative agency VML and genomic engineering firm The Organoid Company. 'We're unlocking the potential to engineer leather from prehistoric species, starting with the formidable T-Rex,' added Connon, who is one of the project's leaders. Connon and his colleagues may be eyeing the fashion industry — market data provider Fortune Business Insights says the global $500 billion leather goods market will be worth $855 billion by 2032 — and sectors beyond, such as the automotive industry. But experts say the chances of their achieving results anytime soon look less than likely. When they do commercially produce lab-grown T. rex leather, it will be expensive. The 'gimmick' is at a 'very early stage,' said Tom Ellis, professor of synthetic genome engineering at Imperial College London. 'I doubt that our knowledge of dinosaur evolution is good enough to be able to design a collagen gene specifically from T. rex.' Producing real T. rex leather is 'very far-fetched,' added Ellis, who explained that the properties of any collagen that results from the project are likely to be similar to that of a cow or a chicken. That means any ensuing products will look and feel like any other alternative leather, Ellis said. 'It gives them something that is at least unique and can justify a much higher price,' he said. Scientists can, in theory, get collagen gene sequences from any animal — it is the most abundant protein in mammals, for example, — and companies such as Geltor and Modern Meadow have made leather-like materials from genetically engineered collagen, launching small batches of expensive products. If achieved, sustainably engineered animal leather may have environmental benefits. Right now, most leather is a byproduct of the cattle industry, which is partly responsible for deforestation in places such as the Amazon. Many synthetic and vegan leathers, meanwhile, are made of fossil fuel-derived plastics that don't biodegrade, according to World Wide Fund. In the meantime, while scientists are preoccupied with whether they can make dinosaur purses, fashionistas have time to stop and think about whether they should buy them. This article was originally published on
NBC News
30-04-2025
- Science
- NBC News
Fearsome to fashion: Your next accessory could be made from real T. rex
When it roamed the Earth 80 million years ago, a 40-foot-long Tyrannosaurus rex was one of nature's most terrifying prospects. Soon, it could be a purse. A group of researchers and bio-engineers in the U.K. say they're working to produce high-end clutches and totes with T. rex skin grown from fossilized remains of the ancient carnivore. The team is seeking to grow sustainable leather using collagen from the beast sometimes known as the King of the Dinosaurs that last lived 68 million years ago in North America and Asia. If successful, the project will be the first example of leather developed from an extinct species. The project's developers say the lab-grown material will be fully biodegradable and structurally identical to traditional leather. It will also be 'innovative and ethically sound,' Che Connon, professor of tissue engineering at Newcastle University, said in a statement. Connon also works for biotechnology company Lab-Grown Leather, which is developing the project with Dutch creative agency VML and genomic engineering firm The Organoid Company. 'We're unlocking the potential to engineer leather from prehistoric species, starting with the formidable T-Rex,' added Connon, who is one of the project's leaders. Connon and his colleagues may be eyeing the fashion industry — market data provider Fortune Business Insights says the global $500 billion leather goods market will be worth $855 billion by 2032 — and sectors beyond, such as the automotive industry. But experts say the chances of their achieving results anytime soon look less than likely. When they do commercially produce lab-grown T. rex leather, it will be expensive. The 'gimmick' is at a 'very early stage,' said Tom Ellis, professor of synthetic genome engineering at Imperial College London. 'I doubt that our knowledge of dinosaur evolution is good enough to be able to design a collagen gene specifically from T. rex.' Producing real T. rex leather is 'very far-fetched,' added Ellis, who explained that the properties of any collagen that results from the project are likely to be similar to that of a cow or a chicken. That means any ensuing products will look and feel like any other alternative leather, Ellis said. 'It gives them something that is at least unique and can justify a much higher price,' he said. Scientists can, in theory, get collagen gene sequences from any animal — it is the most abundant protein in mammals, for example, — and companies such as Geltor and Modern Meadow have made leather-like materials from genetically engineered collagen, launching small batches of expensive products. If achieved, sustainably engineered animal leather may have environmental benefits. Right now, most leather is a byproduct of the cattle industry, which is partly responsible for deforestation in places such as the Amazon. Many synthetic and vegan leathers, meanwhile, are made of fossil fuel-derived plastics that don't biodegrade, according to World Wide Fund. In the meantime, while scientists are preoccupied with whether they can make dinosaur purses, fashionistas have time to stop and think about whether they should buy them.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
World's First 'T. Rex Leather' Is Claimed to Come From Dino DNA. Is This For Real?
A team of biotech startups want to create lab-grown leather based on fossil remnants of the king of dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex. This ambitious project is a collaboration between The Organoid Company, a Netherlands-based genomic engineering startup; UK-based Lab-Grown Leather, a business specializing in 'scaffold-free' biomaterials; and VML, a US marketing agency responsible for the 'mammoth meatball'. This trio of businesses considers lab-grown leather a "more sustainable and ethical future for the luxury materials industry", according to a press release from VML, by avoiding the animal death, deforestation, and chemicals involved in traditional leather manufacturing processes. They hope the T. rex leather in particular will offer the "natural durability, repairability, and the tactility expected in high-end leather goods." But in their announcement – which is all we have to go off, at present – the companies also claim the new material will be "engineered using T. rex DNA", which scientists have yet to extract from any dinosaur fossil. Even within the most well-preserved specimens, DNA doesn't seem to survive much more than a million years or so before it becomes too fragmented and degraded to be sequenced. The oldest DNA fragments on record, extracted from Siberian mammoth molars, are around 1.6 million years old. T. rex went extinct 66 million years ago, so there's no hope of ever recovering its DNA. What the team will actually refer to as a blueprint for this lab-grown leather is fossilized T. rex collagen, and even that has a questionable grounding. Collagen, the most abundant protein in vertebrate bodies, is an important component of all leather, bundled into fibers that give the material its defining features. Type 1 collagen is found throughout vertebrate bodies, from the skin surface to the living core of bone. Soft tissues like these rarely survive the ravages of decomposition and are rare in fossils. A 2007 study claimed to have sequenced seven short peptide fragments of type 1 collagen from a T. rex fossil. However, skeptics later argued the authors mistakenly sequenced ostrich and alligator collagen lurking in the equipment. Over the years, other studies have raised similar concerns about contamination when analyzing T. rex specimens. Nonetheless, it may indeed be possible – albeit unlikely – for type 1 collagen from a T. rex to survive. Some recent evidence suggests that traces of collagen can survive in some fossils for almost 200 million years. If the team have got their hands on bona-fide T. rex collagen, they face further challenges in turning that into a legitimate Cretaceous product. The collagen would need to be in good enough shape for them to reverse-engineer its recipe. Even if the T. rex collagen identified in 2007 was genuine, it was too fragmented for a full recreation. Assuming they do have high quality collagen, the first step is figuring out the amino acids that make up the collagen proteins, and then translating these into the genetic sequences that would have coded for the proteins. If they can get enough of these sequences pieced together, they would then need to verify which of those sequences match up against those of living T. rex relatives (generally, researchers use chickens as the most closely related living relative). Then, those sequences can be inserted into the genome of a 'bioleather cell line' designed by The Organoid Company, and sent to production. "By reconstructing and optimizing ancient protein sequences, we can design T. rex leather, a biomaterial inspired by prehistoric biology, and clone it into a custom-engineered cell line," claims The Organoid Company CEO, Thomas Mitchell. "We're passionate about pushing the frontiers of synthetic biology… to pioneer sustainable alternatives for the materials of tomorrow." At best, this lab-grown leather will contain some tiny snippets of collagen fibrils that may bear a passing resemblance to that of the T. rex. Does that mean it qualifies as genuine dinosaur leather? Cesi n'est pas une pipe. But perhaps the investments this stunt attracts will at least prevent some of our living creatures from becoming handbags. Scientists 'Tattoo' Tardigrades in Nanotechnology Breakthrough A Strange Phrase Keeps Turning Up in Scientific Papers, But Why? Can We Trust Our Eyes Anymore? The Dark Side of Apple's New AI Clean Up Tool
Perth Now
28-04-2025
- Science
- Perth Now
T-Rex leather handbags could soon be available in shops
T-Rex skeleton Credit: BANG - Entertainment News BANG - Entertainment News Bang Showbiz T-Rex leather handbags could soon be available to buy. Lab-Grown Leather, a company based in Newcastle, has joined forces with The Organoid Company to grow hides using DNA from the extinct dinosaur species. A full-length collagen will be generated from the dinosaur that will be used to grow new skin. It was previously thought that dinosaur DNA would be impossible to find as the fragile strands were unlikely to have survived for millions of years but Lab-Grown Leather are now hoping to have their accessories on the shelves by the end of the year. Professor Che Connon, from the startup, said: "We're unlocking the potential to engineer leather from prehistoric species, starting with the formidable T-Rex. "This venture showcases the power of cell-based technology to create materials that are both innovative and ethically sound."
Irish Independent
26-04-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
UK company attempting to grow T rex leather to make luxury accessories
©Telegraph Media Group Holdings Ltd Tyrannosaurus rex leather accessories could be available by the end of the year. Lab-Grown Leather, based in Newcastle, teamed up with The Organoid Company to grow extinct hides using dinosaur DNA.
