Schematic of commonly employed surgical mouse models of human disease. (a) The dorsal skin fold chamber allows real-time imaging of cutaneous physiology in high resolution when combined with intravital microscopy techniques (right). (b) Parabiotic models permit researchers to investigate the role of circulating factors and/or cells from the donor parabiont in cutaneous wound repair. (c) Engineered human skin constructs can be grafted onto immunocompromised mice to study human skin explant physiology within a living biologic (immunodeficient) environment.