3D printing artificial leather - a new step for cosmetics industry

This artificial leather has the same chemical and biological properties as human skin, printed in less than a minute.

Scientists in Singapore have recently announced that they have successfully developed a method that can help 3D print a thumb-sized human skin in less than a minute. This is considered a big step, helping the cosmetics industry do not need to conduct new product testing on animals.

Skin crumbs are made from donated skin cells and collagen.

According to a research team from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, this artificial skin is made up of donor skin cells , lab-grown skin and collagen. Artificial leather is 3D printed with chemical and biological properties similar to real human skin.

The team sped up the production process by using a printer to create individual skin layers, with patterns identical to human skin. This is said to be the highlight of the research .

The newly printed skin will be incubated for about 2 weeks to allow the skin cells to multiply and turn into a milky finishing layer.

This new skin can be used in tests to test the toxicity or irritation of cosmetic products.

John Koh, director of the DeNova Science Laboratory, now co-developing product with Nanyang Technological University, said: 'Animal testing is now banned in many countries around the world. Therefore, we want to offer an alternative to experiments conducted on animal or human skin. The use of artificial leather in the cosmetic industry is a major advance, to address issues of human rights and human morality. '

The team is focusing on checking the whitening effect of cosmetics or skin care products.

The team said they are focusing on developing artificial skin with Asian-like pigmentation cells, to test the whitening effect of cosmetics or skin care products.

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