High-strength silk scaffolds improve bone repair

Biomedical engineering students at Tuft's School of Engineering have come up with a bone scaffold that is completely biodegradable and capable of providing full mechanical support.  This is the first bone scaffold that is all polymeric.  Human bones are light weight, hard, and can stand a considerable amount of pressure. The bioengineers silk protein microfibers to a silk protein scaffold.  Through this method they were able to develop a scaffold that is biodegradable and high in strength.  Silk microfibers proved to mimic the mechanical aspects of a bone.  I was interested in this study because now people can get sufficient bone scaffolds after accidents or diseases, and they don't have to worry about the structure or the function of the scaffold compared to a regular bone.  

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-high-strength-silk-scaffolds-bone.html 

  

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