The idea to deploy new methods of wound treatment using in vitro cultured cells first took shape in 1994, at a meeting between Professor Włodzimierz Korohoda, Head of the Department of Cell Biology at that time, and the Head of the Burns Treatment and Plastic Surgery Department of the Ludwik Rydygier Voivodeship Specialist Hospital, Doctor Kazimierz Cieślik. Tests to isolate and culture cells were conducted at the Department of Cell Biology by Masters graduate Justyna Drukała.

 

The first medicinal experiment involving cultured epidermal cells – keratinocytes – was conducted with a patient treated for a chronic leg ulcer in 1995. The trial was a success, leading its authors to enter into closer collaboration, in which Professor Jan Grochowski, Head of the Department of Paediatric Surgery of University Children's Hospital in Kraków and Doctor Jacek Puchała, specialising in the treatment of burns, were invited to take part. This cooperation gave rise to a joint scientific project entitled "Zastosowanie hodowanych komórek skóry ludzkiej w klinice chirurgicznej" [English: "The use of cultured human skin cells in clinical surgery"] and financed by the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research [Komitet Badań Naukowych – KBN], within the scope of which it was possible to purchase apparatus and conduct clinical trials.

 

The first premises where epidermal cell cultures were conducted on this project were at the Laboratory of Cell and Tissue Engineering of the Ludwik Rydygier Voivodeship Specialist Hospital in Kraków, which commenced its activities in 1999. Over an eight-year period, a further three scientific projects were carried out at the Laboratory, within the scope of which 78 epidermal cell cultures were prepared and used in the treatment of burns and hard-to-heal wounds of patients from several centres:

During this period, Dr. Justyna Drukała also committed to providing training and acting as a consultant at the Burns Treatment Centre in Siemianowice Śląskie, where she passed on her experience, making it possible to form an independent unit, where cells used in the treatment of patients with severe burns are cultured.

 

Due to the introduction of legal regulations concerning the activity of units where tissues and cells are processed (Polish Law relating to harvesting, storage and transplantation of cells, tissues and organs [Ustawa z dnia 1 lipca 2005 r. o pobieraniu, przechowywaniu i przeszczepianiu komórek, tkanek i narządów]) and the need for modernisation of the laboratory, its activity was suspended, though medicinal experiments continued uninterrupted, and cells were cultured at the University Children's Hospital, at the Department of Transplantation of the JU Medical College, which had its own infrastructure at its disposal. At this time, efforts began to be made to start up a new laboratory – the Cell Bank of the Department of Cell Biology at the JU Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology. The Cell Bank officially opened on October 29, 2010.