Researchers used stem cells to grow skin containing blood vessels, capillaries, hair follicles, nerves, tissue layers and immune cells, paving the way for improved treatments for skin diseases, burns and grafts, according to a statement released today by the University of Queensland (UQ).

“This is the most lifelike skin model that’s been developed anywhere in the world, and it will allow us to study diseases and test treatments more accurately,” said lead researcher Abbas Shafiee, a tissue engineering and regenerative medicine scientist from UQ’s Frazer Institute.

The team used recent advancements in stem-cell research to create three-dimensional “skin organoids”, before engineering tiny blood vessels that allowed the tissue to develop like natural human skin.

“We took human skin cells and reprogrammed them into stem cells, which can be turned into any type of cell in the body,” Shafiee said, adding that the skin model took six years to develop. The research was published in Wiley Advanced Healthcare Materials.

Co-author Kiarash Khosrotehrani said the engineered skin could improve grafts, and treatments for inflammatory and genetic skin disorders like psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and scleroderma.