Lab grown tissue innovator BSF Enterprise says it has secured £90,000 of funding towards proof of concept projects.
Investors in the owner of Newcastle University spin-out 3D Bio Tissues (3DBT) were told it has received more than £50,000 in payments from a partnership with an international leather fashion company. 3DBT’s scientists have produced bio-engineered samples measuring up to 10cm by 10cm in size and 2mm in thickness for the partner, following a 60-week study.
The firm said production of tissues with such thickness and their use by a global manufacturer marked an important milestone. In its update to the London Stock Exchange, BSF also pointed to several other proof of concept projects with other leather companies to establish whether its lab-grown skin product could become a sustainable and ethical alternative to traditional leather. It also hinted a commercial agreements in the offing.
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Earlier this year, 3DBT announced it was working with French fashion brand Maison Amelie Pichard. The firm, which is building a leather tanning facility at its Newcastle laboratories, said it would provide material for use in Maison Amelie Pichard’s handbags.
In a further update, BSF said it had also secured £38,000 in grant funding from Innovate UK – the Government’s national innovation agency – to start a project with the University of Northampton. The work will combine 3DBT’s bio-equivalent dermal tissue and the university’s leather manufacturing knowledge, looking at using the firm’s material as a replacement for animal skin and hide in the making of footwear, clothing, furniture, automotive products and accessories.
3DBT creates the skin tissue using its City-Mix cell growth agent which is said to boost production yields and use fewer expensive supplements as well as negating the need for animal-derived serum which means no animals suffer as part of the process.
Che Connon, managing director of BSF Enterprise, said “Today’s announcements represent another milestone in the development and application of 3DBT’s City-mix technology in delivering successful high-quality cultivated tissue to clients within the leather industry. We look forward to seeing these commercial and research partnerships continue to grow as we increase our production capacity to enable further development of cultivated skin on a larger scale to meet the growing demand.”
In January, BSF reported that is losses widened to £1.5m as the early stage firm established itself. But at the same time bosses hailed the significant opportunity for its products, which also include lab-grown meat, intended to shake-up global production, and lab-grown corneas for use in testing of chemical and pharma products. There is ambition to develop BSF into a group of bio-tech companies that can bring innovative products to the healthcare, fashion and cellular agriculture markets
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