The current standard treatment for significant tissue loss is harvesting an autologous flap—tissue taken from a healthy area of the patient’s own body—and transplanting it to the damaged site. This approach is used because transplanting tissue from another person leads to immune rejection and associated complications. The new development, therefore, offers an important solution for substantial tissue loss.

According to Professor Shulamit Levenberg, head of the research group, “Our development represents a significant step toward the production of complex implantable tissues for cases involving loss of muscle and fat tissue due to injuries, burns, tumor resection, and more. The technology presented in the paper may, in the future, enable the production of personalized flaps tailored to the specific characteristics of an individual patient’s injury.”