A recent Digital Trends article covered an innovative new solution for treating wounds. A team of researchers at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research created “human textiles” composed of yarn made from lab-grown skin that can be used for sutures or scaffolds. Because the material is made from skin cells, it could be woven into hosts without risk of rejection and won’t initiate an immune response.
The team behind the concept started with adult human cells grown in a lab at the bottom of a plastic container. The cells synthesize to create a sheet, known as an extracellular matrix [ECM], that provides the foundation for virtually every organ in the body. This ECM is then cut into ribbons a few millimeters wide and then woven into a textile that can be used as a vascular graft to stitch wounds closed.
