Lab-Grown Skin Test Spots Problems With New Chemicals, Newcaster University Study

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UK researchers have developed a way to test new chemical products on lab-grown skin as an alternative to animal testing. The test, created at Newcastle University, uses living human skin and immune cells to replicate the reaction of new drugs, cosmetics or household chemicals with the outside of the body and can provide results within two weeks. The launch of the ‘Skimune’ test, through spin-out firm Alcyomics, follows the recent EU ban on the sale of any cosmetic product tested on animals, but the researchers claim the technology might also help spot problems that animal tests or computer modelling might not pick up.

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