Making Skin. Making History: The Alfred Launches 2026 Critical Care Appeal
The Alfred Foundation has officially launched its Critical Care Appeal 2026, aiming to raise $200,000 to fund Phase 2 of a ground-breaking bioengineered skin clinical trial. Running from Monday, 31 August through Friday, 4 September 2026, culminating in Appeal Day on Friday, the campaign calls on the community to help transform treatment for patients with severe, life-threatening burns.
Treating severe burns traditionally requires harvesting donor skin from uninjured areas of a patient’s body – a painful process that is difficult when healthy skin is limited.
Surgeons and scientists at The Alfred have developed a pioneering solution: growing living human skin from a patient’s own cells.
- The Science: A small 2 cm × 5 cm skin sample is expanded in the laboratory to 160 times its original size.
- The Impact: It minimises the need for repeated donor-site grafts and speeds up recovery for severe burn victims.
Since 1967, the Victorian Adult Burns Service at The Alfred has cared for Victorians through major disasters, including Ash Wednesday, Black Saturday, and the Whakaari/White Island eruption. The 2026 appeal bridges this rich history of emergency care with the next frontier in medicine.
Funding for the current trial stage ends in 2026. Community donations are essential to expand Phase 2, bring this trial to more patients, and move bioengineered skin toward becoming a standard medical treatment.
Together, we can write the next chapter in burns care.
Donate Online: alfredappeal.org.au
Donate by Phone: 1800 888 878
Image: Supplied by The Alfred Foundation