It sounds like something from a science fiction movie. Researchers at Auckland University have successfully grown gene-edited skin.
They hope it could one day be used to treat a debilitating skin disorder and even help burn victims.
Hilton is like most five-year-olds - full of energy. But he has a rare condition that causes his skin to be very fragile and prone to blisters. It's called epidermolysis bullosa, or EB.
His mum Sophia remembers the day of the diagnosis.
"I was shocked, very sad, very upset," she told Newshub.
She spends up to three hours a day treating her son's skin with a cream and wrapping vulnerable areas like his hands in bandages.
Sharp edges around the house have been covered and Hilton has a soft floor to play on.
"It was very hard for us, for EB families," Sophia said.
Auckland University biological sciences senior lecturer Dr Hilary Sheppard said it's a condition that affects the proteins that act like glue that stick the skin cells together.
"These people have a single broken gene that affects the glue and so their skin is not as robust and strong," she said.
Dr Sheppard and her team at Auckland University have been working to develop a cure. And this could be it - gene-edited skin grown right here in their lab.
"We take small pieces of skin from these patients - so we do like a fingernail-piece size of skin. We take it into the lab and grow the cells up that are present in the skin and while they're in the lab we can fix that single broken gene and make it act like a normal cell," Dr Sheppard said.
Application of the treatment is at least five years away. But it has huge potential for burn victims and gene-related diseases like muscular dystrophy.
"Really it's about translating it from the bench to the clinic," Dr Sheppard said.
The research was made possible thanks to funding from Cure Kids.
"Our hope for the future is that no child needs to suffer from this EB long-term and that we can give them a solution which means that they can just live a beautiful, healthy life," Cure Kids CEO Frances Soutter said.
And that's all Sophia wants for her brave, resilient boy who's already showing how to kick EB to the curb.
