Spider Silk Gives Rise to Medicated Sutures

The study of spider webs has led to a discovery that will generate new kinds of medical sutures embedded with medication. The Univ. of Akron scientists have developed a novel synthetic material similar to a specific kind of silk spun by an orb spider. The specific web design is known as BOAS because it looks like beads-on-a-string in a circular web. The beads are glue droplets. The replication of this design can potentially be used as strong and flexible sutures that contain medication embedded in these bead-like structures.

The researchers developed the new biocompatible thread after meeting with physicians who specialize in wound healing and who expressed the need for better material-related solutions to medical problems.

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