Dinosaur collagen used to create one-of-a-kind handbag
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Scientists derived collagen from Tyrannosaurus rex fossils to make the teal-coloured handbag, on display at Amsterdam’s Art Zoo museum.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- A handbag, "T. rex leather", using collagen from T. rex fossils, was unveiled in Amsterdam to showcase lab-grown leather's value.
- Scientists extracted ancient protein fragments from dinosaur remains, engineering cells to produce collagen, addressing technical challenges.
- Experts question the term "T. rex leather," citing collagen's fragmented state and origin inside bones, rather than skin.
AI generated
AMSTERDAM - Scientists and designers unveiled on April 2 a handbag made with collagen derived from Tyrannosaurus rex fossils from the US, in a unique creation intended to demonstrate the value of laboratory-grown leather.
The teal-coloured bag will be displayed on a rock in a cage under a replica of a T. rex at Amsterdam’s Art Zoo Museum until May 11, after which it will be auctioned, with a reported starting price of more than US$500,000 (S$640,000).
Scientists behind the initiative said the material was developed using ancient protein fragments extracted from dinosaur remains that were inserted into an unidentified animal’s cell to produce collagen that was turned into leather.
“There were a lot of technical challenges,” said Mr Thomas Mitchell, chief executive of The Organoid Company, one of three companies behind the so-called “T. rex leather” bag.
Genomic engineering firm Organoid and creative agency VML, another of the firms behind the project, previously collaborated on creating a giant meatball in 2023 by combining the DNA of a woolly mammoth with sheep cells.
Professor Che Connon, chief executive of Lab-Grown Leather, which worked on producing the leather for the handbag from the engineered collagen, said the T. rex origin gave it extra oomph.
“It’s not just about a green alternative to leather, it’s a technological upgrade,” Prof Connon said of lab-grown leather.
The handbag, on display at Amsterdam’s Art Zoo museum, will be auctioned in May at a reported starting price of more than half a million dollars.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Scepticism
Some scientists outside the project have expressed scepticism about the term “T. rex leather”, saying material from other animals would be needed.
Dutch vertebrate palaeontologist Melanie During, of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, said collagen can persist in dinosaur bones only as fragmented traces that cannot be used to recreate T. rex skin or leather.
Dr Thomas R. Holtz Jr, a palaeontologist at the University of Maryland, similarly said any collagen identified in T. rex fossils comes from inside the bone, not skin, and that even perfectly matching proteins would lack the larger-scale fibre organisation that gives animal leather its distinctive properties.
“I would say that when you do something new for the first time, there is always criticism,” said Mr Mitchell.
“And I think we’re really grateful for that criticism. It’s the bedrock of scientific exploration... I think this is the closest anyone has got and will probably ever get to create something that’s T. rex.” REUTERS
