Researchers from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, claim to have 3D-printed skin that’s alive and has blood vessels.
The new technique could greatly accelerate the healing process for patients who require skin grafts, such as burn victims.
In a paper published in the journal Tissue Engineering Part A on Monday, the researchers detail how they added cells crucial to the development of blood vessels to animal collagen inside a complex network of 3D-printed tissues, which prompted the cells to form a vascular structure within weeks.
Their 3D-printed skin even began to connect and communicate with a mouse’s blood vessels in an animal trial.
But that doesn’t mean it’s ready for use on human patients on a clinical level just yet. Donor cells would have to be modified using gene-editing techniques such as CRISPR to stop the host’s body from rejecting the graft.
Still, it’s a clever solution that lets the body do what it does naturally — but with a little help up front.
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