Australian researchers use silkworm to repair damaged eardrums

Melbourne, May 29: A team of Australian researchers found that silkworms would have the ability to repair damaged eardrums. A team of researchers based in Melbourne and Perth developed a tool in the "Clearard" ear implant, which resembles a lens found in a lens containing a recipient's cell growth, reported by Xinhua News Agency.Marcus Atlas, the leader of the research team, said that flexibility made silk ideal for the device.
"We felt that it had shown previously to support cell growth and proliferation, and the ability to be able to change into various forms was a really appealing thing for us, particularly when we started to mix it with other products to create different mechanical and acoustic criteria," Atlas told the media on Monday. "The skin cells are there - it's getting them to come across and heal, so it's sort of a scaffold."
By removing sericin, the adhesive agent in silk, researchers were able to heat proteins into a liquid from which they created the device. The device, for which clinical trials are being planned, is surgically placed under a damaged eardrum to provide a platform on which new tissue can grow. For smaller parts of the drum, the device will dissolve periodically after the hole is repaired, but the device will be replaced indefinitely for a large-scale loss. The British Trust-based Welcome Trust provided $ 2.9 million for the device's clinical trial.