Skip to Content Subscribe Our Offers My Account Manage My Subscriptions FAQ Newsletters Canada Canadian True Crime Canadian Politics Health World Israel & Middle East Financial Post NP Comment Longreads Puzzmo Diversions Comics NP News Quiz New York Times Crossword Horoscopes Life Eating & Drinking Style Sponsored Play for Ontario Travel Travel Canada Travel USA Travel International Cruises Travel Essentials Culture Books Celebrity Movies Music Theatre Television Business Essentials Advice Lives Told Tails Told Shopping Buy Canadian Home Living Outdoor Living Kitchen & Dining Tech Style & Beauty Personal Care Entertainment & Hobbies Gift Guide Travel Guide Amazon Prime Day Deals Savings National Post Store More Sports Hockey Baseball Basketball Football Soccer Golf Tennis Driving Vehicle Research Reviews News Gear Guide Obituaries Place an Obituary Place an In Memoriam Classifieds Place an Ad Celebrations Working Business Ads Archives Healthing Epaper Manage Print Subscription Profile Settings My Subscriptions Saved Articles My Offers Newsletters Customer Service FAQ Newsletters Canada World Financial Post NP Comment Longreads Puzzmo Diversions Life Shopping Epaper Manage Print Subscription HomeNewsWorldJurassic purse: Handbag made from 'T-Rex leather' on auction could fetch $800KThe accessory is made from lab-grown hide using supposed Tyrannosaurus rex DNA, though some critics doubt its authenticity You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.This handbag made from lab-grown 'T-Rex leather' could fetch upwards of $800,000 at auction. Photo by VMLThe “World’s first T-Rex leather product,” as it’s been trademarked by its scientific and artistic creators, could fetch up to 500,000 Euros (CAD$800,000) when bidding starts at a hotel in Paris, France Thursday evening.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorSome people within the scientific community, however, are skeptical about whether the lab-grown leather truly comes from the iconic Cretaceous era animal.Here’s what to know about the alleged prehistoric purse.Get a dash of perspective along with the trending news of the day in a very readable format.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of NP Posted will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againIn 2005, researchers in the U.S. identified soft tissue in the bones of a 68-million-year-old specimen, a finding which “rocked the world of dinosaur research,” Discover magazine reported at the time, per the University of Montana.Until then, it was believed that organic material couldn’t survive for millions of years.“Now, with these new discoveries of cellular preservation, we move to a new kind of paleontology: cellular and molecular paleontology,” said Jack Horner, curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies and co-author of a paper on the findings.Last year, The Organoid Company, a genomic engineering firm, and creative agency VML teamed up with sustainable biotechnology pioneer Lab-Grown Leather to use collagen sequences found in fossilized tissue to “develop and produce a high-quality alternative to traditional leather that is both animal-friendly and environmentally responsible.”“Using advanced computational biology and AI modelling, scientists predicted and reconstructed the remaining genetic information” and inserted it into a “carrier cell line” to produce a collagen-based hide.“It’s like having a puzzle, but you only have a few pieces, and then you have to fill in the rest,” Organoid CEO Thomas Mitchell said in an Instagram video.He also told Reuters they experienced “a lot of technical challenges” along the way.As it happens, Organoid and VML were also involved in the creation and marketing of the 2023 novelty woolly mammoth meatball, which used elephant DNA to fill in gaps and sheep stem cells to grow the “meat,” The Guardian reported.When Mitchell and company first announced their project’s success, it was met with skepticism by some who questioned whether the protein fragments extracted from the fossilized collagen sequences were, in fact, from the T. rex and not some other source that made its way into the remains over millions of years.“The boundary that we usually hold up for how long proteins can survive was only recently pushed back to around 20 million in very exceptional circumstances,” Postdoctoral researcher Jan Dekker from the University of Turin told German news outlet DW.Because the T. rex died off in the asteroid-caused mass extinction event some 60 million years ago, Dekker doubts there’s any dino-DNA in the lab-grown leather.He added that even if protein fragments from T. rex DNA were evident, most of the completed sequence would be from the other animal used: chicken.“What they have done is create synthetic collagen using an AI model trained on a variety of different species, mainly chicken,” Dekker said. “A very interesting development in itself, but it is not a dinosaur. In fact, it’s more chicken than anything else.”Meanwhile, vertebrate paleontologist Melanie During of the Vrije Universiteit ​Amsterdam told Reuters that any persisting collagen from inside bones couldn’t be used to create skin or leather, and Thomas R. Holtz Jr., a paleontologist at the University of ​Maryland, said even proteins that matched flawlessly wouldn’t have the larger-scale fibre organization necessary to create the properties of animal leather. After its unveiling, the T-Rex leather handbag was on display beneath a cast of a famous Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton at the Art Zoo Museum in Amsterdam for six weeks Photo by VMLWith a focus on accessories as their product’s initial commercial applications, the companies wanted “a flagship luxury item” for their launch and chose “avant-garde techwear label Enfin Levé” and Polish designer Michel Hadas to craft the handbag.“The bag is deliberately restrained — an architectural silhouette with silver fittings that include a lost-wax cast buckle and a cold-forged element shaped like a DNA double helix,” reads a review by Emirates Woman.“That helix is a quiet reference to the material’s lab-born origins, and it is one of the few decorative gestures on an object that otherwise lets the leather speak for itself.”Once the purse is auctioned off, the companies intend to produce more of their T-Rex leather and make it commercially available to other brands and designers.“Initial applications will focus on luxury accessories, with long-term ambitions extending into fashion, automotive, and other high-performance material sectors,” they explain.“This material is fully biodegradable while retaining the durability and repairability of traditional leather, thus offering a sustainable, ethical, and traceable alternative to future generations of consumers committed to innovation and environmental responsibility.”Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. 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