Silk fibroin solution process and post-process engineering for electrogels and foams.

摘要

The viability of silk fibroin as a natural, resorbable polypeptide for in vivo applications warranted exploration into further understanding of specific novel materials that can be generated from the processed aqueous solutions. The processing characteristics of silk fibroin solutions were investigated via the output of two different post-processing material formats, electrogels (e-gels) and fibroin foams. The expectation was to see differences in the end material formats as a function of various degradation levels of the fibroin protein with increased degumming times. The data analyzed from both material formats demonstrates physical differences in the end products induced by the different degumming times used to create the desired solutions. It is hoped that these results will aid in the development of the e-gel platform for drug delivery applications and to further development of silk foams.