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Silk
builds bone
The biocompatible material is made by infusing scaffolds of silk's structural protein with a naturally occurring form of calcium. The material has similar properties to the porous material inside long bones, and is absorbed by the body over time as it's replaced by natural bone.
The material could be used to help the body regrow loadbearing bones.
Research paper:
Bone-like Resorbable Silk-based Scaffolds for Load-bearing Osteoregenerative Applications
Advanced Materials, published online November 10, 2008
Researchers' homepages:
Andrew M. Collins
Oxford BioMaterials Ltd.
Caroline Bertram
Richard O. C. Oreffo
Sonja Von-Aulock
Stephen Mann
Related stories and briefs:
Artificial bone gets natural gradually -- related research
Back to TRN November 24/December 1, 2008
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