Engineering Commons^™

The Role Of Spider Silk In Peripheral Nerve Regeneration, Langston Forbes-Jackson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Spider silk neural guidance channels (NGCs) are highly important innovations in the field of regenerative medicine. This paper will discuss the evidence in the literature that supports their function in regenerative medicine and provide a template for future experiments in the field. While many studies within the past 15 years have demonstrated the validity of spider silk as a scaffold for peripheral nerve regeneration, the molecular mechanics that facilitate regeneration are poorly understood. An emphasis on using silk from orb weaving spiders in particular may have caused researchers to overlook other spiders whose silk could prove to have vastly different …