New method for 3D-printing human skin ‘faster and cheaper than ever’

A faster and cheaper approach to producing replica human skin has been created through the use of advanced 3D printing technology.

Researchers from Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea have developed a hybrid 3D cell-printing system, which allows for the use of extrusion and inkjet modules on the printer at the same time, turning the creation of a human skin model into a single-step process.

This allowed them to print a collagen-based material with a polycaprolactone membrane to prevent contraction of the collagen during tissue maturation, with the inkjet-based dispensing module used to uniformly distribute keratinocytes, the predominant cell type in the outermost layer of the skin.

The method allowed for the maturation of the skin model without the use of commercial cell culture inserts, with the resulting substance displaying good biological characteristics.

Lead author Professor Dong-Woo Cho, from the university's department of mechanical engineering, said: "Significantly, our new method is around 50 times cheaper than alternative methods, and requires ten times less base material. We hope that this new single-step process could provide an attractive and useful platform for engineering fully functional human skin models."

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