Researchers seek revolution for burn victims with artificial skin
An operator performs a manipulation under controlled atmosphere in an Urgo laboratory dedicated to the Genesis project at the Urgo site in Chenove, France, Dec. 16, 2022. (AFP Photo)


The issue of treating serious burn victims has been a complex and painful problem to overcome for decades. Still, a much-needed revolution might be on the horizon with artificial skin as medical firms and researchers seek to create the "ultimate dressing" far from the humble sticking plaster.

For the last 18 months, researchers from the French firm Urgo have been working towards achieving this Holy Grail of wound treatment, which would save serious burn victims from the painful and repeated skin grafts they currently endure.

The 100 million-euro ($106,000 million) "Genesis" project hopes to have a product ready by 2030. Guirec Le Lous, Urgo's medical arm, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that it is a "crazy" project.

"Are we capable of designing artificial skin in a laboratory? No one in the world has succeeded," he said.

Inside Urgo's laboratory in Chenove, near the eastern French city of Dijon, living cells are being chilled before they can be cultivated. "You have to be able to recreate all the functions of the skin," including protecting against external threats and regulating the temperature, Le Lous said.

An operator counts cells under a microscope in an Urgo laboratory dedicated to the Genesis project at the Urgo site in Chenove, France, Dec. 16, 2022. (AFP Photo)
An employee shows type of severe wounds that could be treated by artificial skin developed by French dressing manufacturer at Urgo site in Chenove, France, Dec. 16, 2022. (AFP Photo)

It must also be relatively easy to make because artificial skin must be "available for all and at the right price," he said, without revealing the exact technology or type of cells Urgo is using.

Urgo, a family-owned business since 1880, has long made dressings for chronic wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers and venous leg ulcers.

"Since the 2000s, we have worked on materials that will correct healing problems: dressings have become intelligent, interactive with wounds, allowing them to perform better," Urgo's research director Laurent Apert said.

He called the change "a revolution."

Silver bullet

Urgo is far from alone in pushing the boundaries of what dressings can do. Researchers at the University of South Australia have developed a new kind of dressing that knows when to release nanoparticles of silver, which can break down antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

"Our treatment is unique in that it capitalizes on the anti-bacterial properties of silver, but avoids over-exposure by only activating when the infection is present," lead researcher Zlatko Kopecki said in a statement.

This makes the dressing "a much safer and effective treatment for children," he added.

Children suffer almost half of burn injuries worldwide, most of them aged between one to five years old, according to research using the World Health Organization's Global Burn Registry.

An operator performs a manipulation under controlled atmosphere in an Urgo laboratory dedicated to the Genesis project at the Urgo site in Chenove, France, Dec. 16, 2022. (AFP Photo)
An operator mixes healing polymers in a laboratory as part of the Genesis project at the Urgo site in Chenove, France, Dec. 16, 2022. (AFP Photo)

'Night and day'

Another new technique does away with the idea of dressing altogether. For a French startup VistaCare Medical product, patients put their affected leg into a large device that never touches their wound. Instead, the chamber controls the humidity, temperature, and other aspects important to healing.

"There is no more dressing. The idea is to put the wound in an enclosure, in a sterile air," VistaCare Medical president Francois Dufay said. "With this system, we provide the wound with what it needs, at the right time."

VistaCare Medical's device is currently used in around 20 French hospitals, but next year the firm plans to apply for approval in the United States for a product to be used in the home.

The new developments have shaken up the world of wound healing, long a neglected area of medical research.

Isabelle Fromantin, who heads the wounds and healing research unit at the Curie Institute in Paris, said "compared to 20 years ago, it's night and day in terms of wound care." Along with her team, Fromantin has developed dressings that reduce the odors from necrotic wounds seen in some cancers.

However she said that new technologies can achieve not everything – healing is a process that varies from person to person, depending on their age and health.

"Believing that a dressing will heal you all by itself is utopian," she said.