Skin in the Game: Bioprinted Skin for Burns and Wounds
Skin is the organ closest to the clinic. Meet in situ printers that print directly onto a wound.
Skin is flat, layered and regenerates readily, which makes it the most approachable organ for bioprinting. It’s also urgently needed: severe burns and chronic wounds such as diabetic ulcers affect millions of people.
Printing onto the patient
Instead of printing skin in a lab and transplanting it, in situ bioprinting scans a wound and deposits cells directly onto it. Wake Forest researchers demonstrated a mobile skin bioprinter that maps a wound and prints layers of the patient’s own skin cells, speeding healing in animal studies. Handheld “bio-pens” developed in Australia and Canada aim to give surgeons a similar tool in the operating room.
Layers matter
- Epidermis: keratinocytes form the protective outer barrier.
- Dermis: fibroblasts and collagen provide strength and elasticity.
- Extras: researchers are adding pigment cells, sweat glands and hair follicles, the parts traditional grafts struggle to regenerate.
Beyond medicine
Printed skin models are also replacing animal testing in cosmetics and chemical safety, a market that is already commercial today.
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