Structural proteins are Nature’s building blocks, conferring stiffness, structure, and function to ordinarily soft biological materials. Such proteins are polymorphic which allows controlling the end material format through their self-assembly.  These biomaterials provide a unique opportunity by being simultaneously “technological” (e.g. mechanically robust, micro- and nanostructured, high-performing) and “biological” (e.g. living, adaptable, bio-functional) making them ideally suited for applications at the interface between these two domains.

Our goal is to provide innovation for new advanced material processing and manufacturing based on sustainable carbon-neutral technologies, and imagine a new class of applications for living materials that operate seamlessly at the interface between the biological and the technological worlds.

We study the use of silk as an optical material for applications in biomedical engineering, photonics, and nanophotonics. Silk can be nanopatterned with features smaller than 20 nm. This allows the manufacturing of structures such as (among others) holographic gratings, phase masks, beam diffusers, and photonic crystals out of a pure protein film. The properties of silk allow these devices to be “biologically activated” offering new opportunities for sensing and bio-photopic components.

To learn more about our lab, visit our website and follow us here.

Resources

Silklab is an interdisciplinary materials science laboratory that occupies nearly 10,000 sqft of lab/office space including biomaterial processing/characterization, electronic, photonic and additive manufacturing facilities. Silklab is equipped with a series of dedicated facilities that cover the full cycle of biomaterials/soft condensed matter materials usage: from their isolation to processing and characterization, to their integration in optical, electronic and biomedical devices.

For optical analysis, Silklab offers brightfield and fluorescence optical microscopes, multispectral cameras, a refractive index/thickness prism coupler setup, an ultra-fast multi-wavelength pulsed laser source, and an infrared fiber laser with a wide set of detectors.

Relevant publications

• Guidetti, G., Wang, Y., & Omenetto, F. G. (2020). Active optics with silk: Silk structural changes as enablers of active optical devices. Nanophotonics, 10(1), 137-148.
• Guidetti, G., Sun, H., Marelli, B., & Omenetto, F. G. (2020). Photonic paper: Multiscale assembly of reflective cellulose sheets in Lunaria annua. Science Advances, 6(27), eaba8966.
• Wang, Y., Kim, B. J., Peng, B., Li, W., Wang, Y., Li, M., & Omenetto, F. G. (2019). Controlling silk fibroin conformation for dynamic, responsive, multifunctional, micropatterned surfaces. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(43), 21361–21368.
• Li, W., Wang, Y., Li, M., Garbarini, L. P., & Omenetto, F. G. (2019). Inkjet Printing of Patterned, Multispectral, and Biocompatible Photonic Crystals. Advanced Materials, 31(36).
• Wang, Y., Li, W., Li, M., Zhao, S., De Ferrari, F., Liscidini, M., & Omenetto, F. G. (2019). Biomaterial-Based “Structured Opals” with Programmable Combination of Diffractive Optical Elements and Photonic Bandgap Effects. Advanced Materials, 31(5).
• Li, M., Wang, Y., Chen, A., Naidu, A., Napier, B. S., Li, W., … Omenetto, F. G. (2018). Flexible magnetic composites for light-controlled actuation and interfaces. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(32), 8119–8124.
• Wang, Y., Li, M., Colusso, E., Li, W., & Omenetto, F. G. (2018). Designing the Iridescences of Biopolymers by Assembly of Photonic Crystal Superlattices. Advanced Optical Materials, 6(10).
• Wang, Y., Aurelio, D., Li, W., Tseng, P., Zheng, Z., Li, M., … Omenetto, F. G. (2017). Modulation of Multiscale 3D Lattices through Conformational Control: Painting Silk Inverse Opals with Water and Light. Advanced Materials, 29(38).
• Caixeiro, S., Gaio, M., Marelli, B., Omenetto, F. G., & Sapienza, R. (2016). Random Lasing: Silk-Based Biocompatible Random Lasing. Advanced Optical Materials, 4(7), 998–1003.
• Kim, S., Marelli, B., Brenckle, M. A., Mitropoulos, A. N., Gil, E. S., Tsioris, K., … & Omenetto, F. G. (2014). All-water-based electron-beam lithography using silk as a resist. Nature nanotechnology, 9(4), 306-310.
• Kim, S., Mitropoulos, A. N., Spitzberg, J. D., Tao, H., Kaplan, D. L., & Omenetto, F. G. (2012). Silk inverse opals. Nature Photonics, 6(12), 818–823.
• Omenetto, F. G., & Kaplan, D. L. (2010). New opportunities for an ancient material. Science, 329(5991), 528–531.
• Parker, S. T., Domachuk, P., Amsden, J., Bressner, J., Lewis, J. A., Kaplan, D. L., & Omenetto, F. C. (2009). Biomaterial-Based “Structured Opals” with Programmable Combination of Diffractive Optical Elements and Photonic Bandgap Effects. Advanced Materials, 21(23), 2411–2415.
• Amsden, J. J., Perry, H., Boriskina, S. V., Gopinath, A., Kaplan, D. L., Negro, L. D., & Omenetto, F. G. (2009). Spectral analysis of induced color change on periodically nanopatterned silk films. Optics Express, 17(23), 21271–21279.
• Lawrence, B. D., Cronin-Golomb, M., Georgakoudi, I., Kaplan, D. L., & Omenetto, F. G. (2008). Bioactive silk protein biomaterial systems for optical devices. Biomacromolecules, 9(4), 1214–1220.
• Omenetto, F. G., & Kaplan, D. L. (2008). A new route for silk. Nature Photonics, 2(11), 641–643.