Advances in biofabrication for skin regeneration

During the past few years, the progress and evolution of biofabrication processes have made the field grow exponentially. Different technologies have been explored to develop Tissue Engineered (TE) structures to promote the regeneration of several tissues, in particular skin. Despite its self-regeneration ability, this capacity is strongly reduced in the case of full-thickness lesions, requiring the use of grafts, dressings, or advanced skin substitutes

In spite of the great progress achieved on TE-based skin substitutes several challenges still need to be overcome to achieve the optimal skin substitute, such as: to avoid using animal-derived materials (e.g. serum), to improve the adhesion of cultured keratinocytes to the wound bed, to improve the rate of neovascularization of tissue engineered skin, to enhance the scaffolds materials to resist wound contraction and fibrosis, develop scaffolds that mimic ECM biomechanic properties, to create strategies aligned with in situ application for personalized therapies.

• Advanced biofabrication approaches to develop TE-based structures for skin regeneration, such as:
i) in situ approaches;
ii) 3D/4D bioprinting;
iii) hybrid approaches.

• Advanced structures for skin wound healing and regeneration, such as:
i) hybrid and/or hierarchical structures;
ii) stimuli-responsive structures;
iii) TE-based structures;
iv) skin ECM mimicking;
v) controlled drug delivery.