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Freeze-dried jellyfish could help us grow new human skin

By James Urquhart

3 March 2020

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Our skin could be repaired using structures inside the bell of an upside-down jellyfish

Shahar Shabtai/Alamy

Stinging upside-down jellyfish may not be something you want to touch, but they could be used to make scaffolds for healing skin.

“We found that an abundant jellyfish species, Cassiopea andromeda, in the Gulf of Mexico is similar in structure to human skin,” says Nayeli Rodríguez-Fuentes at the Scientific Research Center of Yucatán in Mexico, who led the work.

Natural and synthetic tissue scaffolds are used to repair skin, often after surgery or to heal burns. These allow new skin cells…

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