SINGAPORE (Reuters) – A piece of skin about the size of your thumbnail can be printed in less than a minute, scientists in Singapore say, a game-changing step for the future of non-animal testing for cosmetics and other products.

Made up of skin cells from donors and collagen, the in-vitro skin has the same chemical and biological properties as human skin, says John Koh, lab manager at start-up DeNova Sciences, which is collaborating with Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University on the product.

“We can see that the industry is moving towards animal-free testing,” Koh said.

“So we really want to offer a solution to testing on the skin without using animal or human skin.”

The team has accelerated the manufacturing process by using a printing machine to put in precisely patterned layers that mimic human skin. Each tiny piece of skin takes less than a minute to print, which is the distinctive quality of this project.

The mixture is then incubated for about two weeks, as the skin cells multiply and gain opacity, turning into a whitish membrane.

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