Did you know your skin makes up about 15% of your body weight and plays a vital role in protecting you from infections, dehydration, and temperature extremes?
When skin becomes damaged—from things like wounds, burns, or diseases—it can be very dangerous.
But researchers in Switzerland have found a creative solution to help: using fish skin to create artificial human skin.
Scientists at Empa, a Swiss research institute, are working with doctors to build a model of real, living human skin.
This model will help researchers better understand skin diseases like chronic wounds, autoimmune conditions, and even skin cancer—and how to treat them more effectively.
Instead of using plastic or digital simulations, they’re creating a skin-like structure made of real human cells. It even mimics the layers and textures of real skin.
To build something this complex, they need the right materials.
That’s where fish skin comes in. Researchers have developed a special gel, called a hydrogel, using gelatin made from the skin of cold-water fish like cod and haddock.
This hydrogel is soft, holds water well, and can support living skin cells—just like the body’s natural skin tissue.
Hydrogels are helpful because they act like the skin’s natural framework, keeping everything in place and hydrated.
Even better, this new fish-based hydrogel doesn’t swell up when wet, unlike many others. Swelling is a big problem when trying to build accurate skin models using 3D printing, as it can ruin the shape and structure.
Using this fish gelatin, the team can 3D print layers of skin cells in a pattern that mirrors the real structure of skin.
They also use a technique called electrospinning to help create the connection layer between the skin’s surface (epidermis) and deeper layer (dermis). This could eventually lead to more realistic and useful skin models.
Beyond research, this fish-based hydrogel could also help people heal from wounds. Since fish are more distantly related to humans than cows or pigs, the material is less likely to cause allergic reactions or transmit disease.
It’s also more uniform, safer, and can be made in different shapes, sizes, and thicknesses—making it ideal for custom wound dressings. Medicines could even be added directly into the gel.
Empa scientists have applied for a patent and are now working to finish the living skin model and share it with other researchers. Their hope is that this fish-based innovation will bring safer, more effective ways to heal wounds and understand skin diseases.
If you care about pain, please read studies about how to manage your back pain, and Krill oil could improve muscle health in older people.
For more health information, please see recent studies about how to live pain-free with arthritis, and results showing common native American plant may help reduce diarrhea and pain.
Source: KSR.
