After two weeks, the leg was substantially healed.

Researchers plan to start clinical trials on humans next year.

“With this technology, we can convert skin cells into elements of any organ with just one touch,” said Dr. Chandan Sen, who led the study.

“This process only takes less than a second and is non-invasive, and then you're off.

“The chip does not stay with you, and the reprogramming of the cell starts.

Unlike stem cell therapies, TNT would require no laboratory-based procedures ahead of use, meaning it could be implemented in everyday healthcare setting, such as a GP surgery.

Because the new reprogrammed cells are produced under the guidance of the patient’s own immune system, there is no need for the immunosuppressant drugs that can be necessary when biological matter is transplanted.

The technique relies both nanotechnology-based chips designed to deliver the genetic cargo to adult cells in the body, as well as the specific biological information which will determine how to reprogramme those cells.