Medical technology has truly come a long way in recent years. Now, a new bedside bioprinter has been designed that will drastically improve the lives of burn victims.

Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) scientists have designed a mobile skin bio printing system that can be filled with a patient’s cells, wheeled to their bedside, and print out brand new skin for large wounds and burns.

“The unique aspect of this technology is the mobility of the system and the ability to provide on-site management of extensive wounds by scanning and measuring them in order to deposit the cells directly where they are needed to create skin,” said Sean Murphy, a WFIRM assistant professor who worked on the printer.

Millions of Americans suffer from large, chronic, or non-healing wounds, and treatment for them is very expensive. In addition, burn injuries make up between 10 and 30% of combat casualties in conventional warfare for military personnel.

The bioprinter takes the two major skin cells, dermal fibroblasts and epidermal keratinocytes, and isolates them with a small biopsy of uninjured tissue. The cells are placed onto the bioprinter after being mixed in hydrogel, and the technology then tells the bioprinter which cells need to be placed where. Once this happens, the bioprinter deposits the cells directly onto the wound, replicating the layered skin structure, and accelerating the formation of normal skin structure and function.

The next step for this will be clinical trials on humans, which will hopefully begin soon.

“The technology has the potential to eliminate the need for painful skin grafts that cause further disfigurement for patients suffering from large wounds or burns,” said WFIRM Director Anthony Atala, one of the researchers behind this technology. “A mobile bioprinter that can provide on-site management of extensive wounds could help to accelerate the delivery of care and decrease costs for patients.”

“If you deliver the patient’s own cells, they do actively contribute to wound healing by organizing up front to start the healing process much faster,” added James Yoo, who led the research team. “While there are other types of wound healing products available to treat wounds and help them close, those products do not actually contribute directly to the creation of skin.”