When he wandered on Earth 80 million years ago, a 13 -meter Tyrannosaurus rex was one of the most frightening figures of nature. Soon, it could be a wallet.

A team of researchers and industrialists in the United Kingdom claim that they work to produce high -tech t. rex leather bags and wallets derived from fossilized remnants of ancient sarcophagus.

The group seeks to develop sustainable skin using collagen from the beast, sometimes known as the king of the dinosaur who lived 68 million years ago in North America and Asia. If it is successful, the project will be the first example of skin developed by an extinct species.

Project managers say that the material cultivated in the laboratory will be fully biodegradable and identical to traditional skin. It will also be “innovative and morally constructed,” said Che Connon, professor of tissue engineering at the University of Newcastle.
Connon also works for the Lab-Grown Leather biotechnology company, which is developing the project with the Dutch creative office VML and the Organoid Company genomic engineering company.

“We unlock the ability to make skin from prehistoric species, starting with the awesome T-Rex,” added Connon, who is one of the leaders of the project.

Connon and his colleagues have aspirations not only for the fashion industry – Fortune Business Insights market provider claims that the world -wide $ 500 billion leather market will be worth $ 855 billion by 2032 – and areas beyond that.

However, experts say that the chances of achieving results soon seem less likely. When producing T. Rex commercial skin cultivated in the laboratory, it will be expensive.

The “venture” is at a “very early stage,” said Tom Ellis, a professor of synthetic genome in Imperial College, London. “I doubt that our knowledge of the evolution of dinosaurs is advanced enough to be able to design a collagen gene especially by T. Rex.”

The production of real skin T. Rex is “very pulled”, added Ellis, who explained that the properties of any collagen resulting from the project are likely to be similar to those of a cow or a chicken.

This means that any products will be like any other alternative skin, Ellis said. “It gives them something that is at least unique and can justify a much higher price,” he said.

Scientists can, in theory, take collagen gene sequences from any animal – they are the most abundant protein in mammals, for example – – and companies such as Geltor and Modern Meadow have made materials that resemble genetically modified collagen, launcher.

If achieved, the skin of sustainable engineering can have environmental benefits. At the moment, most of the skin is a by -product of the bovine industry, which is partly responsible for deforestation in places such as Amazon. Many synthetic and vegan skins, meanwhile, are made of plastics coming from mineral fuel and are not biodegradable, according to the World Wide Fund.

In the meantime, while scientists are dealing with whether they can make dinosaur wallets, fashionistas have time to stop and think about whether they have to buy them.