Human Acellular Dermal Matrix Is a Viable Alternative to Autologous Skin Graft in Patients with Cutaneous Malignancy.

Skin substitutes have shown success in complex wound reconstruction. We evaluate the use of a human acellular dermal matrix (ADM) as a viable alternative to autologous skin grafting for defects secondary to skin cancer excision. An institutional review board-approved, retrospective review of ADM-reconstructed defects secondary to skin cancer excision between 2012 and 2018 was conducted. ADM was indicated in patients with preclusive factors for general anesthesia, protracted procedure time, reluctance for additional donor site wound, and personal choice. We reviewed defect characteristics, healing time, postoperative outcomes, and patient demographics. The 228 participants (151 males, 77 females) had a median age of 72 years (range, 29-95 years), with melanoma diagnosed in 113 (49.6%), squamous cell carcinoma in 61 (26.8%), and basal cell carcinoma in 28 (12.2%) patients. The median interval to complete epidermal coverage was 42 days, with graft failure evident in six patients (2.6%). ADM is a viable, low-morbid alternative for reconstruction of defects secondary to skin cancer excision, with no donor site morbidity. With exception to complete healing time, outcomes are similar to those of autologous grafting.

Implementing a Hybrid Expression Method That Allows Upper-Division Biochemistry Lab Students To Engage in a Full Protein Production Experience While Allowing Ample Time for Characterization Experiments.

Protein structure, function, and signaling are a large portion of biochemistry. Because of this, proteins are often used as model systems in biochemistry laboratory courses, where a course-long project might comprise protein expression, purification, and characterization. Two common protein expression methods are isopropyl ß-d-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) induction, which utilizes easy-to-make media but requires extensive cell-growth monitoring that is time-intensive, and autoinduction, which employs multicomponent media that are time-consuming to make but require no cell-growth monitoring. A protein expression method that is a hybrid of IPTG induction and autoinduction is presented. The hybrid method utilizes the medium of IPTG induction and the no-cell-growth-monitoring induction process of autoinduction, saving hands-on time in the protein expression phase to allow more time for protein characterization while still having students execute each step.