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Scotland - Research with silk for biomedical use

The already accumulated past experience in the field of cell and drug delivery —working at the interface of biomaterials, cell biology and pharmaceutical sciences—provides the expertise needed to both develop and assess silk for these applications. The goal of Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy
and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS)’s laboratory is to establish a UK team with unique expertise in the areas of biopolymers for drug delivery and tissue engineering. These themes will allow to both build and strengthen collaborations with other UK, European and institutions further afield in order to establish research funding with the 2020 Programme and beyond. Membership of the BACSA is invaluable to achieve these goals and serves as a catalyst. Furthermore, BACSA will serve as an excellent springboard to develop novel silk biomaterials by fostering new collaborations with world experts of sericulture and silk. For example, SIPBS has successfully secured funding from EPSRC (EP/N03127X/1) for a 2-year project that represents a step change for stem cell delivery to the stroked brain by using self-assembling silk hydrogels that are injectable but do not undergo swelling. Unlike previously reported technologies, SIPBS self-assembling silk hydrogels can be fine tuned to control their sol-gel characteristics and mechanical properties, while eliminating the need for chemical cross linkers or harsh treatment conditions. This is an ambitious, high impact project, given the high prevalence of stroke in the UK (more than 150,000 new stroke cases each year) 17 million worldwide. This novel therapeutic approach using self-assembling silk hydrogels perfectly complements on-going activities within BACSA. The mission is to explore the biomedical applications of silk, believing this has the potential to open up new high-end applications for silk that will enormously benefit from both the

fundamental science of sericulture as well as the existing silk technologies and expertise embedded within BACSA.

Local institution:

Philipp Seib, PhD
Lecturer in Cellular Pharmaceutics

Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy
and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS),
University of Strathclyde
161 Cathedral Street
Glasgow G4 0RE
United Kingdom

www.SeibLab.com

Tel +44 (0)141 548 2510
Fax +44 (0)141 552 2562

e-mail: philipp.seib@strath.ac.uk
Skype: philipp.seib