title: Tissue engineering of skin.
abstract: The engineering of skin substitutes and their application on human patients has become a reality. However, cell biologists, biochemists, technical engineers, and surgeons are still struggling with the generation of complex skin substitutes that can readily be transplanted in large quantities, possibly in only one surgical intervention and without significant scarring. Constructing a dermo-epidermal substitute that rapidly vascularizes, optimally supports a stratifying epidermal graft on a biodegradable matrix, and that can be conveniently handled by the surgeon, is now the ambitious goal. After all, this goal has to be reached coping with strict safety requirements and the harsh rules of the economic market.
authors.affiliation: Tissue Biology Research Unit, Department of Surgery, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Steinwiesstrasse 75, CH-8032 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Böttcher-Haberzeth
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Biedermann
authors.forename: Ernst
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Reichmann
mesh_terms: D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005109:Extracellular Matrix; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology; D017768:Skin, Artificial; D023822:Tissue Engineering