WATCH: Alternative animal testing device may soon be available to the cosmetics industry

09-Sep-2019 - Last updated on 28-Sep-2021 at 13:43 GMT

The team behind an alternative animal testing device, “skin-on-a-chip”, is forming new start-up to commercialise the product and offer its services to the cosmetic industry.

At this year’s Society of Comstics Scientists (SCSS) suppliers day, we sat down with Dr. Massimo Alberti, from Polaris Science to learn more about the innovation, which is backed by The Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech).

Alberti and his colleagues successfully reconstructed human skin on a compact, microfluidic device which can reduce or eventually replace animal testing.

“The device is a system where you can stimulate blood flow, recreate the microenvironment in which the skin or the tissue you want to study is absolutely close to the physiological condition,” said Alberti, who believes will be a game-changer for the industry.

“[The cosmetic industry] is constantly struggling with the cost of R&D and need to bring products on the market as fast as they can. At the same time, the whole supply chain is affected because the ingredient providers and research organisations that have to follow those needs and also be able to provide those kinds of service rapidly and reliably,” he said.

Watch our video to find out more.