Patterned Silk Films Cast from Ionic Liquid Solubilized Fibroin as Scaffolds for Cell Growth

Abstract

Silk is an attractive biomaterial for use in tissue engineering applications because of its slow degradation, excellent mechanical properties, and biocompatibility. In this report, we demonstrate a simple method to cast patterned films directly from silk fibroin dissolved in an ionic liquid. The films cast from the silk ionic liquid solution were found to support normal cell proliferation and differentiation. The versatility of the silk ionic liquid solutions and the ability to process large amounts of silk into materials with controlled surface topography directly from the dissolved silk ionic liquid solution could enhance the desirability of biomaterials such as silk for a variety of applications.

Silk‐on‐Silk Layer‐by‐Layer Microcapsules

“…[ 1 , 2 ] The versatility of silk proteins, along with their favorable characteristics and potential for processing in aqueous solution under ambient conditions, make silk-based materials excellent candidates for biomedical applications such as drug delivery systems and scaffolds for tissue engineering. [ 3 ] A variety of materials can be produced from silk proteins including fi bers, [ 4 , 5 ] capsules, [ 6 , 7 ] particles, [ 8 ] fi lms, [9][10][11] foams, [ 12 ] and gels. [ 13 ] To produce robust nanocomposite membranes, silk fi broin matrices have been integrated with a variety of functional inorganic nanostructures.…”

Functionalization and Patterning of Protein‐Based Materials Using Active Ultrabithorax Chimeras

“…Instigation of the polymerization process typically requires chemical and physical stresses capable of unfolding or inactivating most functional proteins. [26][27][28] Since short peptides do not require an intricately folded structure to mediate their function, the gene fusion approach can work well for this type of chimera.…”

Rapid Nanoimprinting of Doped Silk Films for Enhanced Fluorescent Emission

“…[ 4 ] By controlling their degree of crystallinity, the fi lms can be made stable in water and used in diverse biological applications such as implantable devices or cell scaffolds. [ 5 ] In the visible wavelength range, silk fi lms have very good optical transparency [ 6 ] and have been used to make silk waveguides. [ 7 ] Recently, rapid nanoimprinting of silk fi lms was demonstrated and used to pattern 2D photonic lattices with feature sizes < 50 nm.…”