Unless your name is Peter Parker, you may not be aware of quite how versatile spider silk is as a material. In fact, aside from spinning webs, spider silk can also be used for a plethora of applications — from improving the quality of microphones in hearing aids to forming incredibly strong-yet-lightweight shields to forming microcapsules for delivering anti-cancer vaccines.
Now researchers from Sweden and India have come up with yet another novel use for spider silk’s unusual mix of strength and elasticity: Creating artificial skin and wound dressings for helping heal wounds.
“We have developed two types of silk-based constructs: Nanofibrous matrices which serve as bioactive wound dressings, and microporous sponges cultured with human skin cells to serve as artificial skin,” Biman Mandal, an associate professor in the Department of Biosciences … full article in Digital Trends