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Repairing hearts with silk: UNSW video shows vessel grafts made from silkworm protein

Bioengineers at UNSW Sydney are developing silk bypass vessels and heart valve leaflets designed to dissolve gradually in the body. A new video shows the research.

TWN newsroom1 min read
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Photo: LoggaWiggler / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (cropped and resized)

Video: YouTube · UNSW · youtube.com

The University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney gave an insight into its research on repairing the heart with silk on 20 October. In a video on its official YouTube channel, the university presents the work of biomedical engineer Jelena Rnjak-Kovacina, whose team aims to turn the protein from silkworm cocoons into medical implants.

According to UNSW, the group is working on artificial silk blood vessels that could serve as bypass grafts for narrowed coronary arteries, as well as silk leaflets for heart valves to treat aortic stenosis. The implants are meant to secure blood flow first, then act as scaffolding for the body's own new tissue while gradually dissolving. Rearing silkworms for research is one thing, but rearing them for a medical device is quite another, Rnjak-Kovacina says.

The approaches are still in development: according to the university, more research is needed to show they are safe and effective, and they are not currently available as treatments. UNSW says cardiovascular disease accounts for one in four deaths in Australia.

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