--- title: "Scientists Grow Hair Follicles in Laboratory for the First Time" description: "In what could be a groundbreaking treatment for hair loss, Japanese scientists have, for the first time ever, grown hair follicles in a lab. " date: "2022-10-24" modified: "2022-10-24" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/hair-follicles-grown-lab" categories: - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" - "RX and Medicine" tags: - "baldness" - "hair loss" - "organoids" - "regenerative medicine" --- # Scientists Grow Hair Follicles in Laboratory for the First Time ![In what could be a groundbreaking treatment for hair loss, Japanese scientists have, for the first time ever, grown hair follicles in a lab. ]() *\Image: Yokohama National University\* In what could presage a groundbreaking treatment for hair loss, Japanese scientists have for the first time ever grown hair follicles in a lab. Researchers at Japan's Yokohama National University [said in a press release]() that they've pioneered *in vitro* hair follicle growth — a resounding success following decades of research into what makes hair grow. A study on the work, [published in the journal *Science Advances*](), details how the researchers were able change the structures of mice skin cells using a special type of gel they created, which allowed the scientists to reprogram the cells to stimulate hair growth. In attempting to better understand the interactions between connective tissues and skin cells that result in hair growth, the Japanese team grew "tiny, simple versions of organs" known as "organoids," and then used their gel to reprogram them to mimic hair follicles' natural environment. "If you think of a hair follicle, it’s got the hair down the middle of it and then it’s got layers of epithelial cells around the follicle and other specialized cells," Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke, a medical science expert at the Queen Mary University of London who was not involved in the research, [told *New Scientist*](). That same gel, in turn, replicates the body's natural environment in the way it lets the epithelial cells climb around and over each other, Hodivala-Dilke added. The hair follicles got as long as three millimeters during the month they grew — which was "probably related to the fact that the hair cycle of mice is about one month," Junji Fukada told the *New Scientist*. He added that his team is now working on replicating the experiment with human skin cells. As Hodivala-Dilke noted, this discovery is preliminary and "is not going to cure hair loss" on its own. Nevertheless, she added that it "lays the foundation for somebody to potentially do so." "You might be able to take hair from someone whose hair is really lush," the British researcher told *New Scientist*, "and make it grow in the lab and then use those follicles to do a transplant." **More baldness treatments:** [*Doctors Say a Random Cheap Pill May Actually Reverse Balding*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()