Witness History
Witness History
The Invention of Artificial Skin
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October 3, 2018
10 minutes
Available for over a year
How a chemist and a surgeon found a way of helping burns to heal. Chemist Ioannis Yannas was working alongside surgeon John Burke when they first made the breakthrough using a membrane made of collagen to cover burns which were too large for skin grafts.
Photo: Professor Ioannis Yannas with some of his collagen membrane. Credit: MIT.