Australian scientists are working towards creating a living, full-thickness replacement skin for burns victims and hope to begin animal trials later this year.

Research is underway to reproduce in the laboratory fully-functioning skin for transplant which could transform the lives of those left with serious burn injuries, an official for the Sydney Burns Foundation said.

Burns victims are currently treated with skin grafts - pieces of their own skin taken from unharmed parts of their body - or with small sheets of skin grown in a laboratory using their skin cells.

But laboratories can only grow epidermis - the thin outer layer of skin - and this cannot stretch, perspire, grow hair or have normal feeling or movement.

Researchers at the Sydney Burns Foundation, a collaboration between the University of Sydney and Concord Hospital, hope to counter this problem by developing a full-thickness, living skin to be transplanted to burns victims.

Sydney University's Peter Maitz said extensive testing was under way to establish base data for testing on animals in the near future.

"Burns injury is one of the most severe and disabling traumas a person can sustain," Prof. Maitz said in a statement.

"While modern burn and intensive care treatment has saved many lives, there is still a widening gap between achieving survival and real quality of life after a severe burn injury.