Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell BiologyType: A method hit a wallArea: skin tissue engineeringTarget: Serum-free, feeder-free keratinocyte cultureStage: preclinical
Hypothesis
Skin cells (keratinocytes) grown in serum-free, feeder-free conditions, which avoid animal contaminants, would still form layered skin in a reconstructed skin model.
What failed
Keratinocytes grown only in serum-free, feeder-free conditions did not form a layered, mature epidermis, and adding calcium did not help.
Broken assumption
Culture conditions that support skin cell growth in a flat dish also support building three-dimensional skin.
Why
The cells had not lost their potential: they formed layered skin when serum was added back. Serum seems to contain factors that both help and block layering.
From the published paper: Lamb et al. PLoS ONE, 2013. ↗CC BY