Knitting with yarn made from human skin cells Magnan et al., Acta Biomater. (2020) 10.1016/j.actbio.2020.01.037 - Copyright Elsevier (2020)

Yarn grown from human skin cells could be used to make implantable “human textiles” for tissue grafts or organ repair.

“We can sew pouches, create tubes, valves and perforated membranes,” says Nicholas L’Heureux, who led the work at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Bordeaux. “With the yarn, any textile approach is feasible: knitting, braiding, weaving, even crocheting.”

Synthetic materials used for stitches and scaffolds for growing tissue grafts can often trigger an immune response, causing inflammation …