Cosmetic testing to be done on printed skin

Cosmetic testing can now be done without causing harm to real human or animal skin. A group of scientists in Singapore have devised a method to artificially generate a piece or fragment of skin through cell culture. They claim that a single piece of skin can be printed in less than one minute through the use of collagen and donated skin cells.

The new technique so found by researchers has guaranteed to become a boon for the cosmetic companies. Fairness brands throughout Asia have been doing their trials and tests of new products on either animal skin or human skin before launching them in the market. As a result of this, the side effects of hitherto untested products cause rashes and other serious skin conditions. Humans used as guinea pigs for these tests even had to test themselves dermatologically. The researchers also had to waste hefty amount of money in the process. In comparison, the method developed by the scientists in Singapore is much more cost effective.

The skin created by us is made up of donor cells and collagen and is done through in-vitro testing.  It has the same chemical and biological properties as an actual human skin. Through this effort, we aim to advance technology towards chemical testing of skin products without hurting animals.” Says John Koh, lab manager of the DeNova Sciences

The unique mark of this project lies in the fact that the time taken by a single piece of skin to print is less than a minute. The group of scientists at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University has created a printing machine that copies each of the layers of an actual skin cell in a few seconds.  The skin so formed can thus be used to detect toxicity or irritation caused by a skin product. The scientists are still working on their project in producing skin of different ethnicities.

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