• Salesperson：Panpan Wang（EFL）

  Phone：15335258233

  Email：engforlife-mkt@efl-tech.com

  Foreign distributor：ANR Technologies Pte Ltd

Introduction

Silk fibroin (SF) is derived from the degumming of silk, and is a polypeptide composed of a variety of amino acids. SF molecule includes a hydrophobic peptide chain (H chain) and a hydrophilic peptide chain (L chain). The special amino acid sequences of H chain and L chain make it form a variety of protein secondary conformations. The properties of silk fibroin materials can be effectively controlled by regulating the secondary structure of silk fibroin, including the preparation of high strength and high orientation materials. SF has good biocompatibility, biodegradability and high tensile strength. It has been used in various biomedical fields, including wound dressings, artificial blood vessels, cell culture, etc. It has been certified by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is a highly promising biomaterial.

Silk fibroin protein cannot dissolve in water due to its own high crystallinity. This hydrophobic property makes it difficult to obtain a uniform structure when it is compounded with hydrophilic systems such as hydrogels. In order to improve the dispersibility of silk fibroin protein, silk fibroin protein solutions are often obtained through steps such as salt dissolution and dialysis, and then the corresponding composite materials are prepared. The preparation process of silk fibroin protein solution is complicated. It has poor stability and is prone to spontaneous gelation, which limits its biological application.

To meet diverse application requirements, the EFL team selects high-quality mulberry cocoons and, through a series of processes, produces silk fibroin protein products that can dissolve rapidly in water, have good water solubility, stability, and material scalability. These products can be used in combination with various types of hydrogels such as GelMA and HAMA to meet the needs of different application fields.

Silk Fibroin Methacryloyl (SilMA) is modified by methacryloyylation of SF with glycidyl methacrylate, introducing a double bond into the SF molecule. Due to the special spatial structure of SF molecules, they are prone to form crystals and are difficult to dissolve in water before modification. After introducing additional chemical groups, it can dissolve rapidly in water, which enables SilMA to be photocurable into a hydrogel. The EFL-SilMA product from  EFL team has passed strict raw material screening and quality monitoring. It has stable physical and chemical properties. It cures into a gel within 10 seconds under visible light irradiation, has good biocompatibility, strong material scalability, and can provide a variety of viscoelastic properties to adapt to different application fields.

Item

Application

Cell culture, bio 3D printing, tissue engineering, etc.

Storage

Dry kit: room temperature, 3 months; 4℃, 12 months; -20℃, 18 months.

HNMR

Fig 1. Synthesis reaction mechanism and NMR spectrum of SilMA 

Rheological property

Fig 2. Rheological properties of SilMA at different concentrations: (A) photocrosslinking process; (B) storage modulus G’ after curing; (C, D) viscosity

Compressive property

Fig 3. Compressive properties of SilMA at different concentrations (405nm light source, 30mW/cm², 30s): (A, C) stress-strain curve; (B, D)compression modulus

Biocompatibility

Fig 4. SilMA hydrogel 3D cell culture

3D printing performance

EFL-SilMA hydrogel cures rapidly and has adjustable mechanical properties, presenting excellent molding effects in projective stereolithography 3D printing (DLP) applications. In conjunction with the EFL team's developed EFL-BP8601 Pro series of UV-curable bio-3D printers, the complex structure manufacturing of SilMA can be easily achieved.

Fig 5. SilMA structure printed by photocuring bio-3D printer (EFL-BP-8601 Pro)

Note

Silk fibroin solution is a semi-steady state sol, which is easily induced by external stimuli such as strong shear, ultrasound, high temperature, organic solvents, etc., and molecular self-assembly occurs, precipitation or gelation behavior occurs. A small amount of insolubles in silk fibroin solution is normal. It is recommended to remove insolubles by centrifugation or filtration to avoid inducing more silk fibroin precipitation.