Scientists Grew Living Human Skin That Self-Heals on a Robot Finger
Ummm. I just hope these researchers fully absorbed the lessons of West World et al. Fascinating, if a little unsettling, stuff from researchers out of the University of Tokyo. Via VICE:
So, the scientists turned to “skin equivalents,” which are currently used as implants to treat severe burns. This equivalent is made of living human skin cells and hydrogels made of, for example, collagen. In their work, the researchers effectively grew skin on top of a robot finger. To do this, they first cultured the dermis (the middle layer of human skin) on the robot finger using a mixture of collagen and dermal fibroblasts, which are human skin cells that allow skin to recover from injury. Then, they seeded this dermis with keratinocytes, which are cells that make up the epidermis (the outermost layer of skin), and ultimately ended up with a robot finger in a sleeve of living human skin equivalent.
This skin equivalent displayed the ability to heal itself. The researchers sliced the finger with a surgical tool and applied a plain old collagen sheet over the wound, like a Band-Aid. After about a week, the skin had healed over the wound.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: 100 CircuitPython Community Libraries, a New Arduino UNO and much more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
