Title: Living materials - the technological reinvention of silk.

Abstract: Biomaterials offer opportunities for devices that operate seamlessly at the interface of the biological and technological worlds. Stringent requirements on material form and function are imposed when operating at the nanoscale or when interfacing such materials with microelectronic circuitry. Silk fibroin is a very attractive biopolymer for use as the starting point for nanostructured optical materials and thin-film electronics.  Devices such as silk-based photonic crystals, lasers, wireless antennas and resorbable electronics will be described as some examples of the possibilities that this water-processed, biocompatible material offers.