DEVELOPMENT OF 3D IN VITRO BURNED SKIN MODELS FOR HIGH-THROUGHPUT THERAPEUTICS SCREENING

Author

• Hayden Kincaid Scoular, University of Montana, MissoulaFollow

Year of Award

2026

Document Type

Professional Paper

Degree Type

Master of Science (MS)

Degree Name

Pharmaceutical Sciences and Drug Design

Department or School/College

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Committee Chair

Monica Serban

Commitee Members

Monica Serban, Travis Hughes, Anh Nguyen

Keywords

skin models, wound models, wound physiology, burn wounds, in vitro

Subject Categories

Disease Modeling | Investigative Techniques | Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Engineering | Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases | Wounds and Injuries

Abstract

Burns are complex and highly variable injuries that affect millions of people every year. There is a need for new therapeutic methods of treating burns as those outside of high-income countries still experience high rates of morbidity and permanent disability from burn injuries. Currently, animal models are widely used for the study of burns and the testing of new therapeutics, but the results are often lacking in clinically relevant translation. The use of animal models for injury studies also raises large ethical concerns. This study aims to develop a clinically relevant, in vitro 3D model of human skin tissue. This model could be used as an eventual replacement for animal models in the study of burns. We show that we can reproducibly induce both thermal and chemical burns on our models expanding the ability to understand the various pathophysiologies of different burn injuries. Our models also responded to treatment through excisional debridement allowing them to repair their epidermal layer and recover barrier function which was not achieved in the untreated models. In summary, we present a new model and methodologies for studying burn injuries and burn treatments on human skin without the need for in vivo animal models or ex vivo human skin models.

Recommended Citation

Scoular, Hayden Kincaid, "DEVELOPMENT OF 3D IN VITRO BURNED SKIN MODELS FOR HIGH-THROUGHPUT THERAPEUTICS SCREENING" (2026). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 12727.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/12727