Why Silk May Be Added To Vaccines Someday [View all]

Silk is in neckties, scarves and some fancy underwear and pajamas. Before too long, it might just help keep people from getting sick with measles or polio.

Vaccines play an important role in health, but can be tricky to transport to the far corners of the world. Many vaccines and some other drugs require constant refrigeration — from the factories where they're made to the places where they're ultimately injected into people.

That's where silk comes in.

Researchers from Tufts University recently discovered that proteins in silk could help protect some vaccines and drugs from heat damage, eliminating the need for this so-called cold chain, according to a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/07/09/156503977/why-silk-may-someday-be-added-to-vaccines.

This is one of the more interesting things I've read lately. The ability to not have to refrigerate vaccines is a VERY important breakthrough. And since I don't feel like having my thread hi jacked by anti-vax I'm posting it here.