CaddisGraft

With over 90% of cosmetic surgeries requiring the use of plastic-based meshes for soft tissue support and securing implants, the risk of introducing microplastics and their subsequent adverse health effects runs high. It is clear that there is a need for a bio-based alternative. We propose a silk-based mesh, dubbed Caddisgraft, to solve this issue. Caddisfly silk is a wet adhesive secreted by aquatic caddisfly larvae to protect against the elements, and thus boasts a high tensile strength, biodegradability and non-cytotoxic properties. Our team hopes to develop a yeast strain capable of expressing caddisfly silk for purification and mass production into Caddisgraft surgical meshes. This yeast strain would be created through a novel synthesis method that stitches together highly repetitive silk protein motifs until the desired number of repeats is reached. Ultimately, Caddisgraft hopes to reduce post-operative pain and encourage better tissue regrowth in cosmetic surgery patients.