Decoding skin's secrets: Stem cell breakthrough at Cambridge

The research is part of the ambitious Human Cell Atlas project, which aims to understand how each cell of the human body forms and develops. The programme's ultimate goal is to create a complete cellular map of the human organism.

Professor Muzlifah Haniffa, one of the project leaders, expressed hope that these discoveries will help treat diseases more effectively, enable ways to extend life in good health, and improve skin appearance.

"If we can manipulate the skin and prevent ageing we will have fewer wrinkles. If we can understand how cells change from their initial development to ageing in adulthood you can then try and say, 'How do I rejuvenate organs, make the heart younger, how do I make the skin younger?" said Professor Haniffa.

Although the prospect of applying these discoveries practically seems distant, scientists have already made significant progress. The latest research focused on how foetal skin cells develop in the early stages of life. Initially, all cells are identical, but after three weeks, specific genes activate, providing instructions on what particular cells should specialise in, forming different body tissues, including skin.

The research team identified which genes activate at the right time and place to form the skin—the human body's largest organ. Under the microscope, treated with chemicals, these cells resemble small, colourful light spots. Genes responsible for creating the skin surface glow orange, while others determine its colour and glow yellow. Meanwhile, others form structures that enable hair growth, sweat secretion, and protection against external factors.

Scientists published the results of their research in the journal Nature and provided detailed instructions on creating human skin. This knowledge opens up broad research opportunities, including finding ways to replicate processes occurring in foetal skin, where scars don't form, in adult skin, which could be useful, for example, in surgery.

One of the most important discoveries was that immune cells play a crucial role in forming blood vessels in the skin. Scientists replicated these processes in the laboratory, manipulating genes and stimulating their appropriate activation. This allowed for the cultivation of artificial skin from stem cells. This research resulted in the creation of small skin fragments with hair growing from them.

Professor Haniffa emphasises that the main goal of this research is to refine the technique so that it can be used in medical practice.

"If you know how to build human skin, we can use that for burns patients and that can be a way of transplanting tissues. Another example is that if you can build hair follicles, we can actually create hair growth for bald people," explains Professor Haniffa.

Laboratory-produced skin can also study congenital skin diseases and test potential new therapies.

The Human Cell Atlas project, which has been ongoing for eight years, has analysed around 100 million cells from various body parts. Preliminary maps of the brain and lungs have already been created, and work is underway on atlases of the kidneys, liver, and heart.

As announced by Professor Sarah Teichmann from the University of Cambridge, co-founder and one of the leaders of the Human Cell Atlas Consortium, the next step will be to integrate these individual maps into a whole.

"It is incredibly exciting because it is giving us new insights into physiology, anatomy, a new understanding of humans. It will lead to a rewriting of the textbooks in terms of ourselves and our tissues and organs and how they function," says Professor Teichmann.