Meet the Surprising Medical Material of the Future: Silk
Someday, silk could be used to heal wounds, prop up bones, and even replace tendons inside our bodies.
By Laura Yan
May 5, 2018
Researchers are engineering new, surprising medical uses for silk. The material, produced by silkworms and spiders, has long been valued as a material to make clothes. It's strong, stretchy, and safe to use even inside the human body, which means scientists are exploring how to weave into bulletproof vests, use it to heal wounds, prop up bones, and maybe engineered to replace tendons.
Scientists from Pursdue University engineered a silk that can kill pathogens when activated by a light. The team injected a natural protein that can be triggered to produce a pathogen killing chemical reaction into silkworms' DNA. The genetically modified silkworms produced a red, glowing silk. When scientists added E. coli bacterial to the silk, and shined a green LED light on it for an hour, the survival rate of the bacteria dropped by 45 percent. The reaction is akin to using hydrogen peroxide to disinfect a cut, Young Kim, a co-author of the paper published in Advanced Science, told The Verge. In the future, the material could be incorporated into devices that purify air and water, or be used as advanced bandages, especially because silk already has cooling effects that can help treat inflammation.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a20194967/meet-the-surprising-medical-material-of-the-future-silk/
