Assembly of functionalized silk together with cells to obtain proliferative 3D cultures integrated in a network of ECM-like microfibers

This article describes the use of fibrous spider silk 3D network (Biosilk) for the culture of mammalian cells. The cells get uniformly integrated between the formed microfibers and the cells are highly proliferative, spreading out more efficiently than when encapsulated in a hydrogel. The authors conclude that the silk-assembly in presence of cells constitutes a viable option for 3D culture of cells integrated in an ECM-like network.