‘Wearable skin’ in shape of hands grown in lab — could be used for face transplants

This process may make your skin crawl — but it could also be regrown.

Bioengineers from Columbia University have found a way of growing skin in the shape of hands — which could be a game-changer for skin transplants.

The newly engineered skin is different from the type currently used for transplants, which is constructed like “wrapping paper” in flat segments and can be difficult to piece together.

The updated skin is made in three-dimensional shapes and dubbed “biological clothing” by the Columbia researchers, who say it will make it easier to cover irregularly shaped body parts — like hands or potentially even faces.

According to the bioengineers, the 3-D method makes it possible to construct shapes. Think of making a seamless “glove” of skin cells for a burned hand.

“They would dramatically minimize the need for suturing, reduce the length of surgeries and improve aesthetic outcomes,” lead developer Hasan Erbil Abaci wrote in the research paper, published in Science Advances. “Three-dimensional skin constructs that can be transplanted as ‘biological clothing’ would have many advantages.”

The study also revealed that the 3-D grafts are better for functionality and mechanical use compared to the pieced-together grafts.

The process of creating new skin grafts starts with a 3-D laser scan of the area structure, such as a hand. A model of the appendage is then made using a 3-D printer, and the outside of the model is covered with skin fibroblasts, which generate the skin’s connective tissue as well as collagen, a structural protein.

The outside of the model is then coated with a mixture of keratinocytes — cells that constitute most of the outer skin layer, or epidermis — and the inside is supplied with a “growth media” to support and aid the graft in its development.

The processes of grafting 3-D-engineered models and flat-engineered skin were tested on mice, with scientists grafting human skin cells on the mice’s hind legs.

The flat engineering method took three weeks, and compared to the other surgery was completed quickly.

“It was like putting a pair of shorts on the mice,” Abaci said. “The entire surgery took about 10 minutes.”

Four weeks later, the grafts had completely integrated with the surrounding mouse skin, and the mice regained the full functions of their limbs.

While the trials on mice were successful, mouse skin heals differently than humans’ counterpart, with clinical trials for the latter still a few years away.

“Engineered skin started with only two cell types, but human skin has around 50 types of cells. Most research had focused on mimicking the cellular components of human skin,” Abaci said.

The scientist said if the grafts are successful, it could lead to face transplants.

“Our wearable skin would be integrated with underlying tissues like cartilage, muscle and bone, offering patients a personalized alternative to cadaver transplants,” he said.

“As a bioengineer, it’s always bothered me that the skin’s geometry was overlooked and grafts have been made with open boundaries or edges,” Abaci continued. “We know from bioengineering other organs that geometry is an important factor that affects function.”