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Engineering of Microtextured Basal Lamina Analogs to Control Keratinocyte Function and Enhance the Performance of
Bioengineered Skin Substitutes

George D. Pins, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Jeffrey Morgan, Brown University

Collaborative Project #6, entitled " Engineering of Microtextured Basal Lamina Analogs to Control Keratinocyte Function and Enhance the Performance of Bioengineered Skin Substitutes" is led by Dr. George D. Pins at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Prompt restoration of skin integrity is critical for preventing infection and water loss, scarring, amputation, and death after burn injuries or in people with diabetic and venous ulcers. The overall goal of this project is to quantitatively analyze keratinocyte function on microtextured basal lamina analogs and to identify parameters that will improve the design and the performance of bioengineered skin substitutes used to treat of skin injuries.

We are using microfabrication techniques to create basal lamina analogs and to investigate the relationship between membrane microtopography and keratinocyte function on the surface of bioengineered skin substitutes.

Morphometric analyses of the master patterns and negative replicates using microfabrication techniques demonstrate significant improvement of our ability to precisely investigate the relationships between membrane microtopography and keratinocyte function on the surfaces of basal lamina analogs.