Regarded as one of the most fearsome creatures on planet Earth millions of years ago, the 40-foot-long Tyrannosaurus rex (T-Rex) could soon be used to make a fashion statement. In a first-of-its-kind approach to luxury fashion, researchers and bioengineers in the UK are planning to use lab-grown leather from fossilised T-Rex remains to make purses, clutches and totes.
Known as the King of the Dinosaurs, T Rex lived 68 million years ago in North America and Asia. Now, using T-Rex collagen as a blueprint, the researchers are hoping to develop the first example of leather, created from an extinct species.
“We're unlocking the potential to engineer leather from prehistoric species, starting with the formidable T-Rex,” Che Connon, professor of tissue engineering at Newcastle University, said in a statement.
"The hard bit is making leather from cells, and we've done that. The upstream bit is using existing technologies, which is why we're confident we can do this so quickly.”
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The joint venture between creative agency VML and biotech companies The Organoid Company and Lab-Grown Leather Ltd. is hoping to produce a luxury fashion item as its flagship commercial product by the end of 2025.
"The material is fully biodegradable while maintaining the durability and repairability of traditional leather, offering a sustainable, cruelty-free, and traceable alternative for future generations of consumers, who demand both innovation and environmental responsibility."
While the claims by scientists are audacious, some palaeontologists have called them out for being 'misleading'.
"We have NO preserved tyrannosaurid DNA (indeed, not Mesozoic dinosaur DNA sequences), so there are no T-Rex genes,” Thomas Holtz, Jr., a vertebrate palaeontologist at the University of Maryland, told LiveScience.
Notably, DNA starts to decompose and decay as soon as an animal dies. The oldest preserved DNA on record is about two million years old, while the T-Rex went extinct 66 million years ago.
