Printing Skin Cells on Burn Wounds Substitute skin products are
available, but they are limited in size and some require a
lengthy preparation time. With traditional skin grafts, many
burn patients don't have enough unburned skin to harvest grafts.
A new approach is needed to immediately stabilize the wound and
promote healing. In our project to “print” skin cells on burn
wounds.we place cells in vials, rather than in cartridges, and
"print" them directly onto the wound. A laser first scans the
wound, so that a "map" can be created to direct the printer
precisely where to place each cell type. Mice with wounds
similar to burn wounds healed in three weeks with bioprinting.
In animals without the treatment, wound healing took five weeks.
The goal of the project is to develop a treatment that can
quickly cover and stabilize a wound. Research has shown that the
longer it takes to cover a wound with skin, the higher the risk
of infection, complications, and death. This video -- with a
mock hand and burn -- demonst