Abstract

Advanced Manufacturing with Silk Proteins for New Materials

David L. Kaplan, Stern Family Endowed Professor of Engineering, Professor & Chair -- Dept of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University

The unique structural hierarchy found in native silk proteins from silkworms and spiders informs remarkable mechanical properties, as well as a range of hierarchically organized building blocks for use in new material fabrication strategies.  These approaches embrace molecular- to nano- to macro-scale silk components as starting materials, sustainable aqueous approaches to generate new silk-based structural materials, and options for facile functionalization of these systems with bioactive components (e.g., enzymes, drugs, cells, etc.).   Material systems are generated with tunable control of mechanics and degradation lifetime.  Appropriate conditions for 3D and 4D printing, traditional solution processing, and thermal processing options are available.  In total, silks offer a unique suite of options in protein-based materials design and fabrication that provide a useful template into advanced manufacturing; embracing biopolymer feedstocks, sustainability, polymorphism, and structural hierarchy as key engineering features.