Second skin

A leap forward in stem cell and skin research has just been made – a lab at King’s College London has made human skin that has the barrier properties of real skin. Scientists have used both skin biopsy samples and stem cells to grow skin before, but this skin’s permeability is far more realistic. Aside from the direct application to skin diseases such as eczema, it offers the possibility of replacing the arguably essential use of laboratory testing on animals. Fortunately the whole article is available free online. Needless to say, it’s caused a stir in the animal testing community – the ethics of which might form tricky interview questions for Medics, Natural Scientists, Biochemists and Philosophers alike.