Fearsome to fashion: How your next fashion accessory could be made from real T. rex

When it roamed the Earth 80 million years ago, a 40-foot-long Tyrannosaurus rex was one of nature's most terrifying prospects. Soon, it could be a purse.
When it roamed the Earth 80 million years ago, a 40-foot-long Tyrannosaurus rex was one of nature's most terrifying prospects. Soon, it could be a purse.
A group of researchers and bio-engineers in the U.K. say they’re working to produce high-end clutches and totes with T. rex skin grown from fossilized remains of the ancient carnivore.
The team is seeking to grow sustainable leather using collagen from the beast sometimes known as the King of the Dinosaurs that last lived 68 million years ago in North America and Asia. If successful, the project will be the first example of leather developed from an extinct species.
The project's developers say the lab-grown material will be fully biodegradable and structurally identical to traditional leather. It will also be “innovative and ethically sound,” Che Connon, professor of tissue engineering at Newcastle University, said in a statement.
Connon also works for biotechnology company Lab-Grown Leather, which is developing the project with Dutch creative agency VML and genomic engineering firm The Organoid Company.
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