Framework for Establishing a Specialized Biobank and Digital Information Platform for Skin-on-a-Chip Research in Plastic Surgery.

BACKGROUND

High-quality primary cells and well-annotated clinical data are essential for reproducible skin-on-a-chip (SoC) research. However, conventional biobanking workflows often lack SoC-oriented procedures for specimen acquisition, live-cell preservation, quality control, and traceability.

METHODS

We established a specialized plastic surgery biobank incorporating standardized tissue procurement, cold-chain transport at 2°C-8°C with processing initiated within 2-6 hours, hierarchical preservation of tissues and live cells, and a unique identifier (UID)-linked multimodal digital platform. The biobank primarily archives skin tissue specimens, while a representative subset of specimens was processed for primary-cell isolation and quality-control evaluation. Post-thaw cell viability was assessed primarily by trypan blue exclusion, with flow cytometry used as an auxiliary method in representative batches. Passage-associated lineage-marker expression was evaluated by immunofluorescence.

RESULTS

The biobank currently archives 450 skin tissue specimens, of which samples from donors aged 0-14 years account for 63.8%. Among the representative cell-production batches evaluated, all available trypan blue image and counting records showed a mean post-thaw viability of 93.91 ± 3.37% (range, 88.24%-100.00%; coefficient of variation, 3.59%), with a cell count-weighted viability of 93.78%. P5 keratinocyte and fibroblast cultures showed near-complete K14 and vimentin positivity, respectively, whereas melanocyte melanocyte melan-A/melanoma antigen recognized by T-cells 1 (MLANA/MART-1) positivity was high at P1 (80.72 ± 11.67%) and decreased at P5 (38.41 ± 4.50%; Welch's t-test, p = 0.021). The operational digital platform supports UID-based sample management, sample-imaging association, storage management, and structured metadata export.

CONCLUSION

This study presents a framework for establishing a fit-for-purpose and traceable specialized biobank and digital information platform to support plastic surgery SoC research. The current findings provide preliminary quality-control evidence for viable keratinocyte and fibroblast preparations and support the preferential use of early passage, marker-guided melanocyte preparations. Comprehensive functional SoC validation, longitudinal assessment of cellular stability, and melanocyte-specific preservation and release criteria require further investigation.