http://j.people.com.cn/n3/2023/0818/c95952-20059872.html
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/15/2/355
The Silk National Engineering Laboratory of Suzhou University, the only national engineering laboratory in China’s textile silk industry, is engaged in research and development of silk protein medical devices as well as mass production of 10 tons of large molecular silk protein per year.
The group around Shenzhou LU at this laboratory has developed silk fibroin micro needles for the transdermal delivery of drugs. First, silk proteins are made into a solution, which is poured into a microscale mold and dried to produce microneedles. 225 microneedles in a 0.5 square centimeter patch can dose more than 1 milligram of drug and is as easy as applying an adhesive bandage. The microneedles are short and thin and do not touch nerves or blood vessels, allowing for painless administration. In addition, the aggregation state of the silk protein is effectively controlled so that the drug’s effect is long-lasting