Healthy Skin for Burn Victims

New Skin from the Lab

The Importance of the skin barrier
Severe burns involving extensive skin loss are among the most critical medical emergencies. Rapid restoration of the skin barrier is vital for survival, as open wounds serve as a gateway for life-threatening infections and blood poisoning (sepsis).

Extensive burns: A challenge
When burns cover more than 30 percent of the body’s surface, doctors reach their limits: Patients lack enough healthy skin for a graft. To date, there is no established standard treatment for these critical cases. That is why the team led by Bong-Sung Kim from the Department of Plastic and Hand Surgery at the USZ wants to explore new approaches.

Skin from the patient’s own body—grown in the lab
In the future, the research team plans to grow thin layers of skin cells, known as keratinocyte sheets, in the lab to cover wounds. Only the patient’s own cells are used for this purpose, which is why the body does not reject the new skin. Furthermore, this approach eliminates the need for high-risk animal-derived components. The method developed by Bong-Sung Kim’s team also allows the skin cells to grow faster and last longer—a time-saving advantage that can save lives.

The next step: Human trials
The project has already reached important milestones and is on the verge of clinical trials (Phase 1 study). These trials will demonstrate safety and tolerability in humans for the first time. By providing earlier, safe wound coverage, the risk of serious complications is expected to be reduced and the chances of survival significantly improved.

Customized Project Partnerships
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