Scientists Grow World's First Fully Functional Human Skin with Blood Supply - Video

In a recent study, researchers at the University of Queensland (UQ) have developed the world's first fully functional lab-grown human skin complete with its own blood supply. The discovery, detailed in Wiley Advanced Healthcare Materials, marks a major step forward in skin disease treatment, skin grafts, and regenerative medicine.

The research team at UQ’s Frazer Institute spent six years developing the advanced skin model using stem cells. Unlike previous skin constructs, this replica includes blood vessels, capillaries, hair follicles, nerves, tissue layers, pigmentation, and immune cells-making it the most life-like skin model ever developed.

“This is the most life-like skin model that’s been developed anywhere in the world and will allow us to study diseases and test treatments more accurately,” Dr Abbas Shafiee from UQ's Frazer Institute said.

“We took human skin cells and reprogrammed them into stem cells, which can be turned into any type of cell in the body,” Dr Shafiee said.

“We placed these stem cells into petri dishes and grew them into mini versions of skin, called skin organoids.”

“We then used the same stem cells to create tiny blood vessels and added these to the growing skin. “It developed just like natural human skin, with layers, hair follicles, pigmentation, appendage patterning, nerves, and most importantly, its own blood supply,” he said.

Professor Kiarash Khosrotehrani said the engineered skin would help improve skin graft transplants and treatments for inflammatory skin disorders such as psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, scleroderma and other genetic diseases.

Reference: M. Mostina, J. Sun, S. L. Sim, et al. “Coordinated Development of Immune Cell Populations in Vascularized Skin Organoids from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.” Adv. Healthcare Mater. (2025): e02108.