Decellularization of Human Skin

Human skin collected from non-living donors is used as a temporary graft to treat burn victims. Immune response in the patient results in the rejection of the donor skin and requires additional treatment and multiple grafting procedures. Further, current processing disinfection techniques do not eliminate most of the common bacterial species found on human skin, resulting in 30-40% donor skin discard. Our novel treatment process would allow for prolonged coverage and healing to occur through the integration of new skin from the host with our processed skin graft. Further, our process would eliminate bacterial contamination significantly increasing the supply of available skin for transplant. Overall, our treatment process would provide improved patient outcomes, reduced patient discomfort, reduced surgical procedures, increased tissue supply and overall reduced cost for treatment.