‘Burn victims’ to be treated by medical companies with ‘artificial skin’

The French company Urgo has been attempting to develop a form of artificial skin that can help burn sufferers avoid needless skin transplants, and it appears that the researchers have finally made progress. The $106 million ‘Genesis’ project, which is focused at discovering a workable solution and aims to have a working product available by 2030, is known as the ‘Holy Grail of wound therapy’.

‘Is it possible to create synthetic skin in a lab? No one has ever succeeded in the globe, ‘ when questioned about the idea, Guirec Le Lous, the president of Urgo’s medical division, told AFP. He said from the lab in the city of Dijon, ‘You have to be able to duplicate all the functions of skin,’ including guarding against outside dangers and controlling temperature.

In order to employ living cells to duplicate the same consistency as human skin, the researchers have them carefully kept, according to AFP. Despite the fact that Urgo has been producing medical dressings since the 1800s, this will be a significant advancement for both the business and the technology.

According to Laurent Apert, research director at Urgo, ‘Since the 2000s, we have worked on materials that would remedy healing problems: dressings have become intelligent, interacting with wounds, allowing them to function better’.  He continued by referring to the undertaking as ‘a revolution’. The University of South Australia also created a product that is very powerful against germs that are resistant to antibiotics.

Lead researcher Zlatko Kopecki said, ‘Our therapy is unique in that it takes use of the anti-bacterial characteristics of silver, while avoiding over-exposure, by only activating when infection is present’.