In late 2013, new results were published by a research team at Durham University which suggested progress. The scientists tried a new method for multiplying, cloning the original cells not in a 2D but in a 3D system.
A team took healthy dermal papillae from hair transplants and dissected them, then cultured them in a petri dish. In 30 hours they were able to produce 3000 dermal papilla cells. The goal was to create dermal papillae that when injected would reprogram cells around it to produce healthy hair. They chose to try the method by injecting the cloned cells in foreskin samples to "challenge" the cells, as the cells in the foreskin normally don't grow hair. The human skin samples were grafted on rats. After six weeks the cloned papillae cells formed brand-new hair follicles which were able to grow hair.
These are early results and as it is a new approach to hair cloning, several more studies and tests have to be conducted before they can move on to human testing. They also encountered new problems, such as that some of the newly grown hair appeared without pigmentation.