Queenslanders will soon be able to have their burns treated using their own skin, thanks to advances by the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital.
The hospital's world-class burns unit is about to bring its Skin Culture Centre online, allowing doctors to generate new skin from a burn victim's own skin cells.
Currently, doctors have to use skin grafts or donor skin but the centre will be able to use a 50-cent-piece-sized biopsy to generate enough skin to cover 70 per cent of the body in around three weeks.
Centre production manager Dr Peter Gillies said it would have profound effects on patient treatment and recovery.
"There will be no delay while waiting for skin to be transported from an outside facility, and quality is optimised by culturing the skin ourselves," Dr Gillies said.
"The new skin culture centre will also enable our burns team to better respond to large scale disasters such as the Ravenshoe explosion and the 2002 Bali bombing."
The hospital's burns unit sees 450 patients a year and has one of the lowest mortality rates in the world.
Queensland Health Minister Cameron Dick hailed the imminent opening of the new skin centre and announced $10 million in new funding under the state's Advancing Health Research 2026 plan.
"The research we do here in Queensland is positioning our state as a world leader in innovation," Mr Dick said.
The new Skin Culture Centre is expected to be operational within the next few weeks.
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