TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - PHARMACEUTICALS - Preferred Components: The skin scaffold further comprises: a second biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition; a third biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition, where the first biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition is layered between the second and third biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel compositions; and skin cells. The second biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition contacts the first biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition. The second biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition has a Young's modulus of less than 10 MPa. The first biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition comprises a polysaccharide comprising carrageenan, xanthan gum, locust bean gum, konjac gum, starch, methyl cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose, partially- or fully-deacetylated gellan, carob gum, agar, TICAGEL 121-AGF (RTM: Hydrocolloid system), poly(glucuronic acid) and/or poly(galacturonic acid). The polysaccharide is plant-derived. The first biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition comprises a glycol ether, pyrrolidone, carboxymethyl cellulose, organic acid, monosaccharide, disaccharide, antibacterial agent and/or surfactant. The first biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition comprises: less than 4.2% konjac gum; less than 2.8% xanthan gum; less than 2% kappa-carrageenan; or less than 4% iota-carrageenan. The first biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition comprises at least three polysaccharides comprising konjac gum, xanthan gum, kappa-carrageenan, or iota-carrageenan. The first biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition comprises a biological signal molecule. The biological signal molecule is contained within a particle of a polysaccharide hydrogel composition. The biological signal molecule comprises a peptide, protein or a pharmaceutical. The first biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition comprises a wound-healing peptide. The skin cells are autologous. The skin cells are fibroblasts and/or keratinocytes. The biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition has a Young's modulus of less than 10 MPa. The biological signal molecule is contained within a particle of a polysaccharide hydrogel composition. At least one of the first and second biodegradable hydrogel comprises poly(glucuronic acid) and/or poly(galacturonic acid). Preferred Process: The drying step removes 70-80 wt.% of water from the first biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition. The method of preparing skin scaffold further comprises: preparing a second biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition, and drying the second biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition, where the second biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition has a lower Young's modulus than the first biodegradable polysaccharide gel; seeding the second biodegradable polysaccharide hydrogel composition with keratinocytes; and crosslinking the polysaccharide with a polyalkylkene glycol. The step of calculating the HBV further includes dividing the infrared transmittance into ten 50 cm-1 regions, where the first 50 cm-1 region is the region from 3000-3050 cm-1. ACTIVITY - Vulnerary.    MECHANISM OF ACTION - None given.    EXAMPLE - N-Methyl pyrrolidone (6%), konjac gum (0.84%), xanthan gum (0.56%), kappa-carrageenan gum (0.4%) and iota-carrageenan gum (0.8%) were added in beaker and stirred. Then potassium chloride (0.4%), calcium lactate (0.8%), sodium benzoate (0.1%), COSMOCIL CQ (RTM: Polyaminopropyl biguanide) (0.1%) were added and mixed until uniform throughout to obtain mixture (A). Glucose (4.5%) and maleic acid (0.05%) are mixed separately to get mixture (B) and set aside. Then water (sufficient quantity) was added to mixture (A) and dispersed and/or dissolved. Water (sufficient quantity) was added to the mixture (B) and stirred to dissolve. The mixture was stirred until it began to thicken and then heated with intermittent stirring at 85 degrees C. The mixture was reheated to 85 degrees C, stirred and poured into an appropriate mold. The hydrogel was covered with a suitable plastic sheet and allowed to cool and gel to obtain the scaffold.