Over the past few decades, Bombyx mori silk fibroin has become a ubiquitous material for applications ranging from biomedical devices to optics, electronics, and sensing, while also showing potential in the food supply chain and being re-engineered as a functional material for architecture and design-related applications. Its widespread use derives from its unique properties, including biocompatibility, edibility, optical transparency, stabilization of labile compounds, and the ability to controllably change conformation and degrade in a programmed way. This review discusses recent and pivotal silk-based devices in which the presence of silk brings added value in terms of functionality, as demonstrated in a broad variety of fields. First, it gives an overview of silk's natural structure and main properties in terms of cross-linking, biocompatibility, and biodegradability to provide the reader with the necessary toolbox to fully make use of silk's multifaceted properties. Then, multifunctional silk-based devices are discussed highlighting the advantage of using silk over more traditional materials. Representative devices from both established and emerging applications for silk are examined. Finally, a roadmap for the next generation of silk-based devices is laid out.

Embolization is a catheter‐based minimally invasive procedure that deliberately occludes diseased blood vessels for treatment purposes. A novel silk‐based embolic material (SEM) that is developed and optimized to provide tandem integration of both embolization and the delivery of therapeutics is reported. Natural silk is processed into fibroin proteins of varying lengths and is combined with charged nanoclay particles to allow visibility and injectability using clinical catheters as small as 600 μm in diameter at lengths >100 cm. SEMs loaded with fluorochrome labeled bovine albumin and Nivolumab, which is among the most used immunotherapy drugs worldwide, demonstrate a sustained release profile in vitro over 28 days. In a porcine renal survival model, SEMs with labeled albumin and Nivolumab successfully embolize porcine arteries without recanalization and lead to the delivery of both albumin and Nivolumab into the interstitial space of the renal cortex. Mechanistically, it is shown that tissue delivery is most optimal when the internal elastic membrane of the embolized artery is disrupted. SEM is a potential next‐generation multifunctional embolic agent that can achieve embolization and deliver a wide range of therapeutics to treat vascular diseases including tumors.

Embolization In article number 2106865, Fiorenzo Omenetto, Rahmi Oklu, and co‐workers demonstrate a silk embolic material (represented in yellow) being released from a catheter and occluding an artery. Therapeutics within the silk embolic material (shown in blue) diffusing outside of the arterial wall achieve targeted drug delivery within the tissue parenchyma.

The use of saliva as a diagnostic biofluid has been increasing in recent years, thanks to the identification and validation of new biomarkers and improvements in test accuracy, sensitivity, and precision that enable the development of new noninvasive and cost-effective devices. However, the lack of standardized methods for sample collection, treatment, and storage contribute to the overall variability and lack of reproducibility across analytical evaluations. Furthermore, the instability of salivary biomarkers after sample collection hinders their translation into commercially available technologies for noninvasive monitoring of saliva in home settings. The present review aims to highlight the status of research on the challenges of collecting and using diagnostic salivary samples, emphasizing the methodologies used to preserve relevant proteins, hormones, genomic, and transcriptomic biomarkers during sample handling and analysis.

De novo designed protein switches are powerful tools to specifically and sensitively detect diverse targets with simple chemiluminescent readouts. Finding an appropriate material host for de novo designed protein switches without altering their thermodynamics while preserving their intrinsic stability over time would enable the development of a variety of sensing formats to monitor exposure to pathogens, toxins, and for disease diagnosis. Here, a de novo protein‐biopolymer hybrid that maintains the detection capabilities induced by the conformational change of the incorporated proteins in response to analytes of interest is generated in multiple, shelf‐stable material formats without the need of refrigerated storage conditions. A set of functional demonstrator devices including personal protective equipment such as masks and laboratory gloves, free‐standing films, air quality monitors, and wearable devices is presented to illustrate the versatility of the approach. Such formats are designed to be responsive to human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2), anti‐hepatitis B (HBV) antibodies, Botulinum neurotoxin B (BoNT/B), and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2). This combination of form and function offers wide opportunities for ubiquitous sensing in multiple environments by enabling a large class of bio‐responsive interfaces of broad utility.