Cobweb healing power harnessed
Wednesday January 4th, 2017
British researchers have unveiled an antibiotic spider silk - expected to provide dressings as well as other medical functions.
The
discoveries at Nottingham University mean that other molecules, as well
as antibiotics, can be attached to the synthetic silk.
Researchers have spent five years on the project and have now shown how the silk can retain anti-bacterial activity for at least five days after being recombined with levofloxacin.
The project was launched because of the "remarkable" qualities of spider silk which tends to be strong, biocompatible and biodegradable.
The silk used in the study is synthesised using E.coli bacteria.
Cobwebs were used in ancient times as dressings and are mentioned by Shakespeare.
The findings have been unveiled in the journal Advanced Materials.
Researcher Professor Neil Thomas, professor of medicinal and biological chemistry, said: “Our technique allows the rapid generation of biocompatible, mono or multi-functionalised silk structures for use in a wide range of applications. These will be particularly useful in the fields of tissue engineering and biomedicine.
“There is the possibility of using the silk in advanced dressings for the treatment of slow-healing wounds such as diabetic ulcers.
"Using our technique infection could be prevented over weeks or months by the controlled release of antibiotics. At the same time tissue regeneration is accelerated by silk fibres functioning as a temporary scaffold before being biodegraded.”
Fellow researcher Dr Sara Goodacre, who heads the university's 'SpiderLab', told how the idea emerged from an inter-disciplinary meeting.
She said: “I got up at that meeting and showed the audience a picture of some spider silk. I said ‘I want to understand how this silk works, and then make some.’
“At the end of the session Neil came up to me and said ‘I think my group could make that.’ He also suggested that there might be more interesting ‘tweaks’ one could make so that the silk could be ‘decorated’ with different, useful, compounds either permanently or which could be released over time due to a change in the acidity of the environment.”
Advanced Materials 28 December 2016 [abstract]
Tags: A&E | General Health | UK News
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