--- title: "Scientists 3D-Printed Living Skin, Complete With Blood Vessels" description: "Researchers from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, claim to have 3D-printed skin that’s alive and has blood vessels. The new technique could greatly accelerate the healing process for patients who require skin grafts, such as burn victims. “Right now, whatever is available as a clinical product is more like a fancy Band-Aid,” […]" date: "2019-11-04" modified: "2019-11-04" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/3d-printed-skin-blood-vessels" categories: - "3D Printing" - "Future Materials" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "health" - "skin" --- # Scientists 3D-Printed Living Skin, Complete With Blood Vessels ![Researchers from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, have 3D-printed skin that's alive and has blood vessels.]() *\Image: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute\* Researchers from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, [claim]() to have 3D-printed skin that's alive and has blood vessels. The new technique could greatly accelerate the healing process for patients who require skin grafts, such as burn victims. "Right now, whatever is available as a clinical product is more like a fancy Band-Aid," lead researcher Pankaj Karande, a chemical engineering professor at the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, said in [a statement](). "It provides some accelerated wound healing, but eventually it just falls off; it never really integrates with the host cells." In a paper published in the journal [*Tissue Engineering Part A*]() on Monday, the researchers detail how they added cells crucial to the development of blood vessels to animal collagen inside a complex network of 3D-printed tissues, which prompted the cells to form a vascular structure within weeks. "We were pleasantly surprised to find that, once we start approaching \[the complexity of recreating biology\], biology takes over and starts getting closer and closer to what exists in nature," Karande said. Their 3D-printed skin even began to connect and communicate with a mouse's blood vessels in an animal trial. But that doesn't mean it's ready for use on human patients on a clinical level just yet. Donor cells would have to be modified using gene-editing techniques such as [CRISPR]() to stop the host's body from rejecting the graft. Still, it's a clever solution that lets the body do what it does naturally — but with a little help up front. ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()