After years of work by a startup operating under the name of Foregen, a team of authors headed by Valeria Purpura has published the important attached article about successes the team has had in its work toward eventually being able to artificially create foreskin tissue.

Bob Van Howe, our movement’s leading pediatrician and a frequent co-author of Steven Svoboda, says it better than we could:

  • Using adult foreskins donated voluntarily, the researchers were able to preserve the connective tissue matrix of the foreskin that maintains it shape (both grossly and microscopically) and elasticity. It is hoped that this matrix can be subsequently filled in with all of the cells and nerves that are found in a healthy foreskin. Other tissues have not been able to replicate the basic framework of the foreskin.
  • They describe and show (for the first time) the butterfly shape of the foreskin’s structure. The ridged band provides the isthmus between the inner and outer surfaces. This is likely because of the elastic tissue that also is responsible for the band’s pleated appearance.
  • The introduction provides the best written summary of how and why the foreskin is important that I have ever read. It should be required reading for everyone interested in this topic.
  • This is only the first (but a big) step in the process. I am amazed they have made as much progress as they have.

Peter Adler, ARC’s Legal Advisor, also serves as Corporate Counsel for Foregen.

Download:
Purpura – Development of Decellularized Extracellular Matrix-Based Biomaterial Scaffold Derived From Human Foreskin for the Purpose of Foreskin Reconstruction in Circumcised Males