Chapter 11: 3D Tissue Modeling of Skin Tissue

The skin is the largest organ of the body. As it is the first line of defense from the external environment, it is the most vulnerable organ to injury. In 2016, there were 500 000 burn patients, and they incurred astronomical medical costs. Researchers have studied a wide range of treatments for skin injuries, including wound dressing, skin tissue engineering, and cell sheets. However, there are limitations to these treatments. They cannot regenerate the full thickness of the skin or heal extensive burn wounds. Many researchers are working towards developing skin bioprinting, which is a promising technology that can potentially be applied to overcome the limitations of current burn treatments. One of the key advantages of this technology is that it can be used to produce biomimetic artificial skin with multiple types of skin cells. Hence, various studies have been conducted using bioprinting technology to generate advanced biomimetic and functional skins containing vasculature, pigmentation, sweat glands and hair follicles. The resulting skin substitutes are expected to have a range of applications including cosmetics, skin disease modeling and drug development. In this chapter, we will review progress in bioprinting technology relating to manufacturing artificial skins.