Engineering Edgeless Human Skin with Enhanced Biomechanical Properties via Science

Despite the advancements in skin bioengineering, 3D skin constructs are still produced as flat tissues with open edges, disregarding the fully enclosed geometry of human skin.

Therefore, they do not effectively cover anatomically complex body sites, e.g., hands.

Here, we challenge the prevailing paradigm by engineering the skin as a fully enclosed 3D tissue that can be shaped after a body part and seamlessly transplanted as a biological clothing.

Our wearable edgeless skin constructs (WESCs) show enhanced dermal extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition and mechanical properties compared to conventional constructs.