[CNN] These Scientists Want to Give Patients Medicines Wrapped in Silk

For centuries, Thailand has produced premium silk fabrics, exported around the globe. However, biomedical researchers at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok have found another use for the fiber: to deliver medicines into the body. Drug delivery systems come in many forms, from capsules and tablets that are swallowed, to skin patches, ointments, and different kinds of injections. 

According to Assoc. Prof. Juthamas Ratanavaraporn, PhD, director of Chulalongkorn University’s biomedical engineering research center, silk fibroin — one of the natural proteins that gives silk its incredible strength — can be used to encapsulate a drug in a sac-like form that takes much longer to break down than other natural proteins like gelatin or chitosan, slowly releasing the drug into the body. 

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