From protein building blocks to functional materials

Y Shen, A Levin, A Kamada, Z Toprakcioglu… - ACS …, 2021 - ACS Publications
Proteins are the fundamental building blocks for high-performance materials in nature. Such
materials fulfill structural roles, as in the case of silk and collagen, and can generate active …

Crystal networks in silk fibrous materials: from hierarchical structure to ultra performance

AT Nguyen, QL Huang, Z Yang, N Lin, G Xu, XY Liu - Small, 2015 - Wiley Online Library
This review provides a comprehensive survey of the structural characteristics of crystal
networks of silk soft fibrous materials in correlation with the macroscopic properties …

Metal ions guide the production of silkworm silk fibers

O Brookstein, E Shimoni, D Eliaz… - Nature …, 2024 - nature.com
Silk fibers' unique mechanical properties have made them desirable materials, yet their
formation mechanism remains poorly understood. While ions are known to support silk fiber …

[HTML][HTML] Spinning from nature: Engineered preparation and application of high-performance bio-based fibers

Z Xu, M Wu, Q Ye, D Chen, K Liu, H Bai - Engineering, 2022 - Elsevier
Many natural fibers are lightweight and display remarkable strength and toughness. These
properties originate from the fibers' hierarchical structures, assembled from the molecular to …

From silk spinning to 3D printing: Polymer manufacturing using directed hierarchical molecular assembly

X Mu, V Fitzpatrick, DL Kaplan - Advanced healthcare materials, 2020 - Wiley Online Library
Silk spinning offers an evolution‐based manufacturing strategy for industrial polymer
manufacturing, yet remains largely inaccessible as the manufacturing mechanisms in …

Molecular organization of fibroin heavy chain and mechanism of fibre formation in Bombyx mori

RO Moreno-Tortolero, Y Luo, F Parmeggiani… - Communications …, 2024 - nature.com
Fibroins' transition from liquid to solid is fundamental to spinning and underpins the
impressive native properties of silk. Herein, we establish a fibroin heavy chain fold for the …

Analysis of the pressure requirements for silk spinning reveals a pultrusion dominated process

J Sparkes, C Holland - Nature communications, 2017 - nature.com
Silks are remarkable materials with desirable mechanical properties, yet the fine details of
natural production remain elusive and subsequently inaccessible to biomimetic strategies …

[HTML][HTML] Rheological behaviour of native silk feedstocks

PR Laity, SE Gilks, C Holland - Polymer, 2015 - Elsevier
Whilst much is known about the properties of silks, the means by which native silk
feedstocks are spun still represent a gap in our knowledge. Rheology of the native silk …

[HTML][HTML] The influence of metal ions on native silk rheology

A Koeppel, PR Laity, C Holland - Acta biomaterialia, 2020 - Elsevier
Whilst flow is the basis for silk fibre formation, subtle changes in a silk feedstocks' chemical
environment may serve to increase both energetic efficiency and control hierarchical …

3D printable soy/silk hybrid hydrogels for tissue engineering applications

P Dorishetty, R Balu, A Gelmi, JP Mata… - …, 2021 - ACS Publications
The development of protein-based 3D printable hydrogel systems with tunable structure and
properties is a critical challenge in contemporary biomedicine. Particularly, 3D printing of …