Interested in growing skin off your body? Then you are in the right place
Hey no questions…it is at least as good as having a pet hamster, or a virtual kitten screen saver. The following ts the first part of series that will take you through how to grow your own skin.. and some very cool projects to do with it.
At the beginning of the C20th there was a rash of experiments that tried to keep tissue alive. Julian Huxley published 'The Tissue Culture King" in 1926, describing the process as 'a techniques of great power' and lending the tissue a religious significance . By the 50s growing tissue cultures was no longer done for its own sake, it was transformed into a material, a tool for biological investigation, a functional unit of analysis for other investigations. Mass production techniques, standardized nutrient media emerged and even the use of penicillin made the tissue survival more practical. Then between '52-57 the tissue bank was set up to support the exchange and storage of all the animal an human cell lines that had been established. By the 70s the property rights issues had been taken through court, deciding that it is the scientist who owns the tissue, not the persons who's biological material it is. The 80s and 90s were spent privatizing and commercializing . So, in short, it was first separated from the body, transformed into an exchange good, then into property, intellectual property that is.. and finally into a product. That's history.. and for the definitive history o life of the sqaumous. If you are interested in reading more about the fascinating history of tissue culture, Hannah Landeck is writing it (finally!) and she has promised to write for the Biotech hobbyist.. so stay tuned.
- pink thumb - user manual
The recipe is simple but just like a Tamagachi it takes a bit of tending. The game is to see how long you can make it live.
In order to grow skin you need three essential ingredients:
Biotech hobbyist can help you with the first two ( and lots of other good stuff too) in the SK-A1 Starter Skin kit, but the last one is up to you. You have a few options… you can keep it on you…. Your body coincidentally is a perfect temperature… or there are a few home incubator kits that you can use. One adapts the waste heat from the back of the refrigerator, another re purposes your oven, but at pet stores you can get a whole range of precision control incubators, to heating elements/mats. Intended for whole living things.
Biotech hobbyist starter skin kit (SK -A1)contains:
What to do.. there is endless things to do with skin. Do you want to make it Glow in the Dark! Do you want it to talk directly to your computer by interfacing it with silicon? Of course you do… the next project installments will explain how to splice in a gene from Octopus that will make the skin glow….