7. Concluding remarks
The silk protein sericin is currently mostly a waste material of silk processing.
However, extensive research proves that sericin can impart useful and unusual properties
to polymer gels, membranes, foams, fibers, and other composite materials. Sericin can be
used to produce cryopreservatives, anticoagulants, and biocompatible materials. In view of
its many beneficial effects, in-depth work is required on the stability, biocompatibility,
and functional characteristics of sericin-derived products. Existing studies are confined
mostly to patent literature and little information is available in refereed research
publications to substantiate the many claims made about sericin-derived and sericinmodified
materials.
Acknowledgments
This work was partly supported by the Natural Science Funds of Education Committee of
Jiangsu Province and Key Lab Funds of Silk Project of Jiangsu Province, P. R. China.