Could skin grown in a lab be used to treat severe burns?

Spray on skin, another Australian invention, has been hugely successful in treating first and second degree burns.

However third degree burns are still difficult to treat, and require skin to be taken from elsewhere on the body and grafted onto the wound.

Melbourne's Skin Bioengineering Laboratory has learnt how to grow new sheets of skin — using the patients own cells.

Guest

• Dr Shiva Akbarzadeh, Monash University
• A/Prof Heather Cleland, The Alfred Hospital

References

• Skin Bioengineering Laboratory - Monash University
• Clinical trial to test engineered skin for severe burns starts in Melbourne's Alfred Hospital, ABC News