Boffins develop lab grown skin that could put an end to KCL’s animal killing

Researchers at KCL have developed a human skin layer from stem cells – and they can be used for cosmetic testing.

Earlier this year that King’s was The Tab revealed that King’s is the ‘4^th most bloodthirsty university’ in the country – killing 106,000 animals each year for and testing on 134,859 annually for their research, including rabbits, monkeys, rats, dogs and cats.

But now, in a huge scientific breakthrough the research team at King’s College London have developed a human skin layer from stem cells that can be used in place of animals for cosmetic testing.

Although stem cells have previously been used to create skin before, this adaptation has a permeable barrier that makes it a very realistic form of human skin.

The scientists have grown epidermis this is the outermost layer of skin. It was made from re-programmed skin cells that were grown in a natural environment of humidity. The selection of this particular method has produced an unlimited supply of skin cells found in epidermis.

So the discovery could put an end to all animal testing and potentially skin conditions that are developed due to genetic mutation such as ichthyosis or atopic dermatitis.

This magnificent achievement could forgive KCL for all the animal testing they have previously carried out.

The scientific breakthrough is almost identical to human skin as it has no significant difference in terms of function or structure.

“Our new method can be used to grow much greater quantities of lab-grown human epidermal equivalents” explains Dr Theodora Mauro from King’s College London.