From webs to wound healing: ASU scientists harness silk for medical innovation

At Arizona State University, researchers are unraveling the secrets of one of nature’s most remarkable materials: silk. 

From the humble silkworm cocoon to the intricate threads of spider webs, silk has fascinated scientists for decades with its extraordinary strength, elasticity and potential for biomedical innovation.

A team consisting of Professor Jeff Yarger in ASU’s School of Molecular Sciences, in collaboration with Professor Kaushal Rege in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, who also directs the Biodesign Institute’s Center for Biomaterials Innovation and Translation, is taking that fascination one step further. 

Their work, recently published in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, explores how traditional silkworm silk can be optimized for use in wound healing, and how spider silk, an even tougher and more versatile fiber, could transform biomedical materials. Joint graduate student Shubham Pallod is first author on the work.

“We’ve been studying silks for years; their structure, their dynamics and what makes them so unique,” Yarger said. “Kaushal and I have been collaborating for a long time. He’s the medical expert with NIH funding for wound-healing applications, and my group focuses on the fundamental physics and chemistry of silk itself. Together, we’re trying to connect how silk’s molecular structure relates to its real-world performance.”

“Our studies have led to a more comprehensive understanding of how processing of natural proteins like silk can be used to modulate their structure and activity for engaging the immune system, leading to effective tissue repair and wound healing," Rege said.

Their latest studies demonstrate that silkworm silk outperforms many conventional wound-healing materials, promoting faster recovery and reducing infection risk. The next phase, supported by a National Science Foundation grant, shifts the focus to spider silk — particularly silk from spider egg cases, which share similarities with silkworm cocoons but are composed of entirely different protein structures.

The secret to silk’s appeal lies in its molecular structure, which provides a near-perfect balance of strength, flexibility and compatibility with the human body.

Spider silk, in particular, is renowned for its high tensile strength (weight for weight, at least five times as strong as steel) and elasticity. This combination is ideal for a material that must hold tissue together while accommodating body movement.

Both spider and silkworm silk proteins have demonstrated excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability in research models. This means they are nontoxic, don't trigger a severe immune response and dissolve naturally over time as the body heals, eliminating the need for removal.

Silk proteins can be processed into almost any form, from fine fibers and sturdy films to sponges, hydrogels and even semi-soluble pastes. This makes them adaptable for different wound types, whether a surface scrape or a deep internal incision.

Yarger’s and Rege's labs at ASU are making strides in creating advanced tissue-repair systems, focusing on what they term laser-activated sealants (LASEs). This research moves far beyond simple bandages.

The ASU team has pioneered the use of silk fibroin (the core protein of silkworm silk) as a matrix for a new type of surgical adhesive. They embed gold nanorods or FDA-approved dyes like indocyanine green into the silk. When an incision is coated with this sealant and exposed to a near-infrared laser, the embedded material rapidly converts the light into heat. This heat causes the silk to seal the tissue instantly, creating a sutureless closure.

In preclinical models, these silk-based LASEs have shown they can close wounds in seconds, providing biomechanical strength equal to or greater than conventional sutures, and significantly preventing leakage in internal tissue repairs.

Crucially, this method avoids the trauma associated with needles, staples and sutures, which can damage adjacent tissue and increase the risk of infection.

A major challenge in wound care is preventing surgical-site infections, especially those caused by drug-resistant bacteria like MRSA. The ASU research has shown that the silk-based LASEs can be loaded with antibiotics such as vancomycin.

The silk material acts as a drug depot, providing a sustained, localized release of the medication directly to the wound site as it heals. This dual-action material seals the wound and actively fights infection, a vital advancement for difficult-to-treat wounds often seen in diabetic or immunocompromised patients.

The work coming out of ASU’s labs is laying the foundation for a transformative change in regenerative medicine. In the next five to 10 years, this research is poised to bring several exciting advancements.

The inherent structure of silk makes it an excellent scaffold to guide the growth of new human tissue, including skin, cartilage and bone. Future research will focus on creating highly porous, 3D silk structures that encourage native cells to migrate and regenerate damaged organs or tissue.

Scientists could potentially engineer silks to include specific peptides or growth factors tailored to an individual’s healing needs, essentially creating a personalized healing cocktail within the dressing itself.

The strong, flexible and drug-releasing properties of silk materials make them an ideal candidate for treating chronic wounds like pressure ulcers and diabetic foot ulcers, which currently represent a significant global health care burden.

While silkworm silk is the primary material in current sealants due to its availability, the research remains committed to exploring the unique benefits of other insect silks. Yarger's work on the molecular structure and mechanical properties of spider silk continues to provide a blueprint for future materials, aiming to synthesize recombinant silk proteins that could eventually outperform nature's own.

“Spider egg case silk has mechanical properties that are more similar to human tendons,” Yarger said. “It’s extremely tough and flexible — qualities you’d want in medical sutures or tissue scaffolds.”

Unlike the dragline silk used in spider webs, egg-case silk is less repetitive in structure and therefore easier to reproduce synthetically. That makes it a promising candidate for recombinant silk production — a kind of biomimicry that could one day allow scientists to manufacture spider silk without relying on the spiders themselves. They have cannibalistic tendencies.

“Each spider species produces several types of silk,” Yarger said. “We’re working to characterize underexplored kinds, such as egg-case silks and even adhesive silks to see which can be synthetically replicated for large-scale use.”

In a newer project led by undergraduate student Mary Lewis, Yarger’s lab has also begun studying jumping spider silk — a kind rarely investigated because these spiders don’t build webs. Instead, they use silk as a safety line while leaping. Preliminary data suggest that this silk’s mechanical performance may rival or even surpass that of orb-weaving species traditionally studied in silk science.

Across all of these projects, the vision remains the same: to understand and ultimately harness silk’s natural diversity for human benefit. Whether derived from worms, spiders or ants, silk’s combination of strength, flexibility and biocompatibility offers a path toward next-generation materials for sutures, tissue engineering and wound healing.

“Our work is about decoding nature’s design,” Yarger said. “If we can understand what makes these silks so extraordinary — and learn to replicate that — we can create sustainable, medical-grade materials that outperform anything we make today.”

From the quiet spin of a silkworm cocoon to the sophisticated, laser-activated sealants being developed in their laboratories, Yarger and Rege and their teams are translating the incredible power of natural proteins into innovative, next-generation materials that will make wound healing safer, faster and more effective for patients everywhere.