Surgery

Repairing tendons with silk proteins

Just mentioning a ruptured Achilles tendon would make anyone wince. Tendon injuries are well known for their lengthy, difficult and often incomplete healing processes. Sudden or repetitive motion, experienced by athletes ...

Surgery

Spinning silk into next-generation eye and knee implants

For thousands of years, silk has been treasured for its qualities as a beautiful material for elegant garments. But scientists are harnessing the less obvious qualities of silk to develop versatile replacement parts for human ...

Medical research

High-strength silk scaffolds improve bone repair

Biomedical engineers at Tufts University's School of Engineering have demonstrated the first all-polymeric bone scaffold material that is fully biodegradable and capable of providing significant mechanical support during ...