Silkworm “band-aids” to repair the cornea

Research from the University of Valladolid has achieved obtain some “band-aids” of silkworm fibroin that help repair the cornea. The good results of this research, currently led by UVa researcher Patricia Gallego Muñoz and Susana Marcos, from the Daza de Valdés Optical Institute of the CSIC, have been published in the journal Frontiers

Fibroin is a protein that is extracted from the silk cocoon made by the silkworm.with which they are being able to obtain biomaterials for different applications, among which are their use to repair eye damage. And this is the focus of an ambitious project, led by the University of Valladolid and the Daza de Valdés Optical Institute of the Higher Scientific Research Council (CSIC), which ended in December 2025, with which they have obtained promising results after five years of research.

The initial idea of ​​the project was to obtain “band-aids” or “dressings” that improve the healing process of the cornea and replace the amniotic membrane of donorswhich is currently used when there is serious damage, such as burns. “The properties that these biomaterials have is that they are not toxic to the corneal tissue; we can make them transparent, so they are suitable for transparency of the cornea; and they are totally manageable because they can be adapted to the function we want to give them,” explains Patricia Gallego Muñoz, principal investigator of the project from the Department of Cellular Biology, Genetics, Histology and Pharmacology of the Faculty of Medicine, who started this project with another researcher, M.Carmen Martínez García, currently retired.

The in vitro work in the UVa laboratory, located in the Faculty of Medicine, has been to test and verify how the corneal cells respond to contact with that material and then move on to the animal model, with very good results, which has given rise to a first article published in December 2025 in the journal Frontiers.

What they have achieved with this research so far is to replace the amniotic membranes with those obtained with fibroin and adhere them to the surface of the cornea without sutures, something quite novel, and the next step “will be to add growth factors, that is, molecules that would improve the healing process“adds Gallego. To illustrate the technique, the UVa researcher describes the process as a “band-aid” sold in pharmacies to which growth factors are added, and placed on the surface of the cornea will improve the healing process.

Glasses for presbyopia

But from this first investigation, other lines of work have also emerged around these biomaterials within the project. They have developed, on the other hand, some intracorneal implants (INLAYS), Very small lenses that are placed inside the cornea to see its tolerance and with them to correct presbyopia.

This type of implants have been used for many years, and one of the pioneers in applying them was the leading researcher in the field of ophthalmology, José Ignacio Barraquer, although the materials used caused many problems due to lack of permeability, which ultimately generated opacity in the cornea.

“Different materials have been testedbut in the long term there is always a loss of transparency and in many cases they generate rejection,” clarifies the UVa researcher. “We are generating INLAYS with silk fibroin and we have tested them in the animal model, with very good results over a year, which we are now awaiting publication, although we want to continue testing, introducing improvements“.

The project, which began in 2020 and ended in December 2025, has had significant fundinga total of two and a half million euros, of which the University of Valladolid has received 260,000 euros.

Both UVa researchers started this project, together with the third principal researcher, Susana Marcos, from the Daza de Valdés Optical Institute, after their long career in the corneal healing research line of the Recognized Research Group (GIR) of Optical Diagnostic Techniques (TOD).