Patterned silk films cast from ionic liquid solubilized fibroin as scaffolds for cell growth.

Silk is an attractive biomaterial for use in tissue engineering applications because of its slow degradation, excellent mechanical properties, and biocompatibility. In this report, we demonstrate a simple method to cast patterned films directly from silk fibroin dissolved in an ionic liquid. The films cast from the silk ionic liquid solution were found to support normal cell proliferation and differentiation. The versatility of the silk ionic liquid solutions and the ability to process large amounts of silk into materials with controlled surface topography directly from the dissolved silk ionic liquid solution could enhance the desirability of biomaterials such as silk for a variety of applications.