Friday, May 7, 2010

Latest Invention: Device that Heals Burn Wound by Spraying Skin Cells Onto It

Objective: latest invention heals and protects the wound, serving as an alternative to skin transplants.

Researchers from the Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States, managed to create a device able to spray skin cells right onto a burn wound.

Before spraying the skin cells, researchers use a laser that accurately analyzes the size and shape of the wound.

According to Kyle Binder, one of the students from the research team, the device literally prints the cells straight onto the wound.

Researchers mentioned that their new system, entitled bioprinting, which works similar to a multicolor office inkjet printer, proved to be successful during the experiments carried out on mice. It is said that burn wounds healed in two weeks.

In order to perform trials on humans, researchers will require approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Currently the team collaborates with U.S. Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine to invent a device that would help heal different types of wounds in soldiers that are on missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Second stage of the research involves testing the device on pigs because in fact that the structure their skin is close to the structure of human skin.