Tissue-Engineered Leather Could be Mass-Produced by 2017
Things have been very hush-hush over at Modern Meadow since it was disclosed in August that the company had received funding from PayPal cofounder Peter Thiels foundation to 3-D bioprint meat and leather.
But in an exclusive interview with Txchnologist, company cofounder and CEO Andras Forgacs has broken the silence and revealed some details about Modern Meadows goals. Their first project? In vitro leather production.
Our emphasis first is not on meat, its on leather, Forgacs says. The main reason is that, technically, skin is a simpler structure than meat, making it easier to produce.
The company also needs to acclimate potential customers to the idea of tissue-engineering products. It turns out that, initially at least, many consumers might not want to eat a modern technological marvel. Anecdotally, weve found that around 40 percent of people would be willing to try cultured meat, he says. Theres much less controversy around using leather that doesnt involve killing animals.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=tissue-engineered-leather-could-be-mass-produced-by-2017