If minor wounds are covered with plasters, and those are severe with bandages, researchers near Dijon, in eastern France, are working to create another species; It is artificial skin to treat severe injuries such as burns.
For 18 months, a team from the French Orgo laboratory in Chinov has been working on a project entitled "Genesis", which is the production of synthetic skin that allows for the treatment of severe burn injuries, without the need to resort to painful skin transplants conducted for the injured.
Several public and private health actors, including the AFM-Téléthon laboratory, are participating in this Euro100 million project and are seeking to complete it in 2030.
The project requires considerable technological capacity, as it is required to "re-establish all skin functions", including protection from external hazards and thermal regulation, as explained by Gerrick Le Lo, Chief Medical Officer of Urgo, a family company founded in 1880.
The lab saves the living cells cold before transplanting them, but the administrator did not disclose the type of cells or the technology used, and asked "Can a laboratory artificial skin be designed?", "No one in today's world has succeeded in doing so."
The industrial aspect should also be taken into account, since such skin should be "accessible to all and therefore at the right price". He called it a "crazy" project.
Urgo has a long experience of chronic wounds, such as those on the foot of people with diabetes or leg sores. "Since the first decade of the 21st century, we have worked on materials that correct healing defects, and the bandage has become smart and reactive with the wound, making it more effective" and "revolutionizing" the field.
Day and night
This revolution is being carried out by research laboratories of a number of companies, including Vista Care Medical in the eastern French city of Bezanson, which created a small box-like device in 2015, which is placed around the wound without contact.
The process of healing the wound goes through several stages, and all factors are important, such as humidity and heat. The company's founder François Duvai explained that the bandage no longer exists, as "the idea is to put the wound in a container, with sterile air." He added that this system provides the wound with "what it needs at the right time."
About 20 hospitals use this method today, and the businessman intends to apply for a license in the United States in 2023 for a device that will be used this time at home.
Wound healing, which has long been neglected by research efforts, is also gaining increasing attention abroad. For example, the University of South Australia has developed a burn technique for children, bandages containing nanoscale silver particles that interact with heat changes, thereby reducing the risk of wound inflammation.
In Paris, Isabelle Frumantan, who is in charge of the Wound and Healing Research Unit at the "Currie" Institute, worked with her team on an anti-odor bandage for necrotic wounds in some cancers.
It noted that the difference between today's situation and 20 years ago with regard to wound care was similar to the difference between day and night.
However, technology alone cannot do everything, as the researcher stressed that "it is unrealistic to think that the bandage alone will allow healing", since the process varies from person to person, depending on age and health status.