Skin Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

Book excerpt: The skin is the largest human organ system. Loss of skin integrity due to injury or illness results in a substantial physiologic imbalance and ultimately in severe disability or death. From burn victims to surgical scars and plastic surgery, the therapies resulting from skin tissue engineering and regenerative medicine are important to a broad spectrum of patients. Skin Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine provides a translational link for biomedical researchers across fields to understand the inter-disciplinary approaches which expanded available therapies for patients and additional research collaboration. This work expands on the primary literature on the state of the art of cell therapies and biomaterials to review the most widely used surgical therapies for the specific clinical scenarios. - Explores cellular and molecular processes of wound healing, scar formation, and dermal repair - Includes examples of animal models for wound healing and translation to the clinical world - Presents the current state of, and clinical opportunities for, extracellular matrices, natural biomaterials, synthetic biomaterials, biologic skin substitutes, and adult and fetal stem and skin cells for skin regenerative therapies and wound management - Discusses new innovative approaches for wound healing including skin bioprinting and directed cellular therapies