Australian Scientists Create First Lab-Grown Human Skin With Blood Supply
Sydney: In a recent achievement, Australian scientists have successfully grown the world’s first fully functional lab-grown human skin complete with its own blood supply. This finding could significantly improve treatments for burns, skin diseases, and grafting procedures.
Researchers from the University of Queensland engineered the skin using stem cells, creating a complex replica that includes blood vessels, capillaries, hair follicles, nerve cells, multiple tissue layers, and immune components.
"This is the most life-like skin model that's been developed anywhere in the world and will allow us to study diseases and test treatments more accurately," said lead researcher Abbas Shafiee, a tissue engineering and regenerative medicine scientist from UQ's Frazer Institute.
“Until now, scientists have been limited in how we study skin diseases and develop new therapies.
“But with a skin model like this, that closely mimics real human skin, we will be able to study diseases more closely, test treatments, and develop new therapies more effectively,” Shafiee said.
He explained that recent advancements in stem cells enabled them to engineer 3-dimensional skin lab models. The team took human skin cells and reprogrammed them into stem cells -- which can be turned into any type of cell in the body.
These stem cells were placed in petri dishes, which then grew into mini versions of skin, called skin organoids.
“We then used the same stem cells to create tiny blood vessels and added these to the growing skin,” the scientist said.
“It developed just like natural human skin, with layers, hair follicles, pigmentation, appendage patterning, nerves, and most importantly, its own blood supply,” Shafiee said, in the research published in Wiley Advanced Healthcare Materials.
The skin model, which took six years to develop, can help improve grafts and treatments for inflammatory and genetic skin disorders like psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, and scleroderma, said co-author Professor Kiarash Khosrotehrani from UQ's Frazer Institute.
“Skin disorders can be difficult to treat, and it’s a real breakthrough to be able to provide hope for people living with chronic conditions.”