Nature Communications (Jul 2017)

Silk micrococoons for protein stabilisation and molecular encapsulation

  • Ulyana Shimanovich,
  • Francesco S. Ruggeri,
  • Erwin De Genst,
  • Jozef Adamcik,
  • Teresa P. Barros,
  • David Porter,
  • Thomas Müller,
  • Raffaele Mezzenga,
  • Christopher M. Dobson,
  • Fritz Vollrath,
  • Chris Holland,
  • Tuomas P. J. Knowles

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15902
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

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Silk fibres currently used in biotechnology are chemically reconstituted silk fibroins (RSF), which are more stable than native silk fibroin (NSF) but possess different biophysical properties. Here, the authors use microfluidic droplets to encapsulate and store NSF, preserving their native structure.