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Printing human skin in 3D, L'Oréal's crazy challenge

The 3D printer never ceases to amaze. In recent months, the prowess of these machines has allowed us to imagine the world in a new way. After printing weapons or even houses, it's L'Oréal's turn to embark on the adventure.

It was the American magazine Bloomberg Business that spilled the beans, revealing that the cosmetics giant L'Oréal wanted to start printing human tissue. For this, the multinational has announced a partnership with Organovo, an American company specializing in "bioprinting".

If this decision was taken by the French company it is partly because of the tests on animals abandoned in 2013 following strong criticism from animal lovers.

While waiting for 3D printing, the firm uses skin samples collected from cosmetic surgeons. With this technique nearly 100,000 cow-sized pieces of skin would be produced per year. However, this is not enough for L'Oréal, which would like to push its dermatological tests further.

Organovo was chosen because it is currently one of the most advanced companies in the bioprinting sector. Thanks to ink made from human cells, his printer gradually reproduces the different layers of human skin!