A common honeybee hive could become a source of new medicines

A common honeybee hive could become a source of new medicines. Scientists from CSIRO and the University of Adelaide have developed smart dressings made from bee silk that protect wounds from infections and fully dissolve in the body after healing. The study was published in the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B.

Bee silk is a protein secretion produced by larvae of honeybees and solitary bees, used to line cells and spin cocoons. It has a light and flexible structure. By inserting insect genes into microorganisms, pure protein was synthesized to create thin films that can be molecularly modified, explains Dr. Caitlin Johnston from CSIRO.