The vast majority of us are familiar with Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s Marvel comic book series, "The Amazing Spider-Man", where he would go web-slinging from here to there, in order to catch the baddies (of course, there is a lot more to this story than just that… but web-slinging is the main take-home point for now). Not only is our childhood superhero strong and just, but he is also smart.

Spider-Man, aka Peter Parker, knew a thing or two about harnessing the natural super powers of spiders and the strength that their silk possesses. He demonstrates this knowledge by creating mechanical devices that yield adhesive, spider silk-like webbing, even creating different types of webbing to serve different functions, proving that Peter Parker was well aware of the strength and diverse applications of his Spidey-webbing. However, one thing he left to the scientists and engineers was its application in the medical device industry.

New research suggests that an eco-friendly alternative to more conventional ways of manipulating light is by-way of natural silk. The latest breakthroughs in the exploration for possible applications to this material will be discussed this week, during the Frontiers in Optics: The 96th Optical Society’s (OSA) Annual Meeting, in Rochester, NY. There will be two key speakers, who are conducting research on silk and its optical properties: Fiorenzo Omenetto, a biomedical engineer from Tufts University and a French physicist at the CNRS Institut de Physiques de Rennes in France, Nolwenn Huby.

Omenetto will be discussing the fabrications of silk and its optical properties for implantable sensors and other bio-technology interfaces. Currently, Omenetto and his team are developing silk-based materials that look like plastic, yet retain the optical properties of silk. One key advantage to this material is the ability to degrade and be reabsorbed into the body. Such technology, could allow a small, silk-protein, based device to be implanted into the body, in order to monitor healing. There would be no need to schedule a follow-up surgery to remove the device, because it would simply dissolve. Omenetto is hoping to have silk-based applications commercially available within the next five to 10 years.

Although Omenetto touches on the optical properties of silk, it is Huby and her team who are researching pure spider silk as an inexpensive means to manipulate light within photonic chips. During OSA’s Annual Meeting, Huby will speak about the utilization of spider silk to guide light through photonic chips, a technology that could develop silk-based biosensors and medical imaging devices for use inside the body. Researchers found that by integrating real spider silk into a microchip, the silk could propagate light and direct the light to selected parts of the microchip. Huby’s team wants to create devices needed in the healthcare industry, such as utilizing spider-silk to act as a light source for taking pictures inside of the body, which could result in less invasive ways to do internal imaging or chemical diagnoses via spectroscopy.

With all of this being said, Spider-Man may not be the only one using spider-silk in everyday applications. The medical device and healthcare industries may be harnessing their “spidey senses” very soon, through the use of spider-silk in micro and nano technologies very soon. And to think, we won’t even have to be bitten by a radioactive spider.

Some superhero-like facts about spider silk include:

  1. The dragline used by spiders or Spider-Man to hang from their webs, is stronger, pound for pound, than steel.
  2. Silk is biocompatible
  3. Silk is biodegradable
  4. Silk is a renewable source
  5. Silk can manipulate light
  6. Natural silk is only five microns in diameter (less than the width of human hair)

What other Super Hero applications could be developed or improved on with the use of spider-silk? Are the current FDA regulations ready for such devices?

Please, share your thoughts and comments!

-RSpelich ^_^

 

For More Information:

  1. http://www.osa.org/en-us/meetings/global_calendar/events/frontiers_in_optics_the_96th_osa_annual_meeting_an/
  2. http://ase.tufts.edu/biomedical/unolab/home.html
  3. http://www.osa.org/en-us/about_osa/newsroom/newsreleases/2012/eco-friendly_optics_spider_silks_hidden/
  4. http://www.sciencecodex.com/ecofriendly_optics_spider_silks_talents_harnessed_for_use_in_biosensors_lasers_microchips-99968
  5. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/10/getting-superheroes-to-do-their-spider-math-and-bat-physics.html

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