Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT

Vascularization is one of the most important and highly challenging issues in the development of soft tissue. It is necessary to supply cells with nutrition within a multilayer tissue, for example in artificial skin.

Our research on artificial skin is driven by an increasing demand for two main applications: for the field of regenerative medicine, victims must be provided with soft tissue implants, as well as soft tissue is necessary after traumatic injuries and tumour treatment. Secondly, to substitute the expensive and ethically disputed pharmaceutical tests on animals by artificial vascularized test beds to simulate the uptake of the pharmaceuticals into the blood.

The multidisciplinary ArtiVasc 3D team - consisting of engineers, physicists, chemists, biologists and physicians - is working on developing standardized processes for scaffold production and to cultivate vascularized skin rapidly and inexpensively. In this way, the project is contributing to improving and accelerating patient treatment in emergencies and to reducing animal testing to an absolute minimum.