Scientists have developed a method to enlarge three-dimensional forms of artificial leather (previously only flat sheets had been created) that could be applied to the body as clothing.

While flat sheets of bioengineered skin can work well for grafting onto relatively smooth areas of the human body, they are not suitable for more complex areas such as the hands.

Fortunately, a team at Columbia University decided to develop a more viable alternative. The system they created starts with a 3D scan of the part of the body that needs transplantation. From this scan, a hollow, permeable, life-size 3D model of the part is printed.

The outer part of the model is then seeded with skin fibroblast cells (which form the connective tissue of the skin), collagen (which provides the skin’s structure), and keratinocyte cells (which form the outer layer of the skin). The inside of the model is perfused with a growth medium that nourishes the cells found outside.

When these cells develop into the skin, they are removed from the model as a single three-dimensional piece, stretched over the part of the body and stitched in place. It takes about three weeks to grow leather this way, which is roughly the same time as traditional flat sheets are grown.

Much more research needs to be done before human trials can be done.