Father and Son Produce Leather via Bioprinting

Father and son team Gabor and Andras Forgacs founded The Organovo in 2006, a company that specialized in making human tissues for medical research. Their new business venture, Modern Meadow, involves the same aesthetics of 3-D bio-printing, but instead of creating human flesh, they make leather that will be used by commercial retailers. While their concept is new to the marketplace, the burgeoning technology could flourish due to leather’s $60 billion-a-year industry that relies on the cruel and costly process of raising and killing animals. According to NBC News, Modern Meadow has already received grants from the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Agriculture, and the Forgacs expect their products to be used in fashion accessories by 2014.