In vitro leather production would be less controversial than growing hamburgers in the lab, Modern Meadow CEO Andras Forgacs says.
Posted 09.20.2012 at 1:00 pm
6 Comments
Petri-dish wallet
Flickr user Romana Correale
Science has been trying for years to grow the perfect sirloin in a petri dish, but animal hides, rather than animal meat, might be a simpler, easier-to-sell product you can harvest in the lab. A company called Modern Meadow could have a full-scale leather production facility up and running within five years, CEO and cofounder Andras Forgacs says.
Modern Meadow received a windfall this summer from PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel to bio-print meat and leather, but the company tells Txchnologist it will focus on leather first. Laboratory leather will use a similar process as lab-grown meat, but it would require far less regulatory approval--and it may be more palatable anyway, Forgacs admits: “There’s much less controversy around using leather that doesn’t involve killing animals.”
Lab-grown leather would also need a shorter tanning process, because it wouldn’t involve removing all the hair and tough outer skin layers.
Here’s how it would work: First, the company would harvest cells from livestock that would normally be killed for meat or leather, potentially including exotic animals. The extracted cells could be genetically modified for improved leather qualities (but meat cells would not). These pioneer cells would multiply in a bioreactor, and would then be purified and fused together. There are several potential methods to do this, including 3-D printing or scaffold seeding. Finally, the cells would be allowed to mature, stimulating collagen production in leather cells and muscle growth in meat cells. You can read more about their process over at Txchnologist.
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As much I enjoy a good\practical\useful wallet, can they show me how to grow money in a Petri-dish? ;)
I will not use any money holder that was not made from a living animal, sacrifice is required!
@calebscape808
You want something to be sacrificed for your money holder? That goes against the laws of logic and efficiency. You humans and your irratonal thinking.
I have already invented such a device.
You begin with a large group of starter cells.
You add nutrients and H20 to the process (usually in the form of grass clippings, weeds, and other farming waste).
The process develops leather, meat, natural gas, and fertilizer. It can also be tweaked to produce milk products.
The entire process is recycleable if the machine should malfunction. Setting up a new process does take some time, but can be assembled on site by anyone qualified to maintain an existing process.
How did I develop such a marvelous and efficient process?
I bought a cow.
Unless this produces a cheaper or superior product, there is no reason for it.
If your goal is to save the lives of cows, then encourage people to eat more beef (more beef = more live cows supplying that market - no beef = liquidation of the species).
wow, im indian, and cows are sacred, but im not a religious nutjob either, i know we need to kill animals for stuff, but still when you dont have to why should you
and calebscape. make sure no indian nutjob reads this article and your comment, cuz for us cows are like jesus...
@commonsensepeople:
Yes, I know exactly the sort of people you're talking about. However, pandering to said religious nut-jobs is a recipe for disaster.
I'm Indian and I come from a Hindu family (I'm an Atheist). But I have no problem with using cows for either meat or leather. So long as they are raised humanely. The reason I'm interested in this technology is that it is potentially much more efficient than raising animals for slaughter - sort or like hydroponics for meat and tissue.