RECELL®
One of Professor Fiona Wood’s achievements was co-founding a skin culture laboratory with scientist Marie Stoner.
Recognising the potential of tissue engineering to transform burn treatment, they focused on a technique known as cultured epithelial autograft (CEA). With support from a Telethon grant, they established a dedicated skin culture facility in 1993.
Over time, their work evolved from growing solid sheets of cultured skin to developing aerosol-delivered cell clusters — a breakthrough now widely known as Spray on Skin™.
The process was revolutionary: healthy skin cells are cultured in a laboratory under sterile conditions and then sprayed directly onto the wound, where they grow and regenerate on the patient’s body.
This world-first technology was commercialised through Clinical Cell Culture Pty Ltd (now Avita Medical) and has been used to treat more than 19,000 patients worldwide.
Professor Wood patented the technique in 1993.
Her pioneering work in developing Spray on Skin™ and the RECELL® System remains her most significant and enduring contribution to burn research and treatment, dramatically reducing permanent scarring for burns patients around the world.