Orthopaedic hardware
made from silk protein.

First-in-class bioresorbable orthopaedic implants engineered from silk fibroin — naturally strong, biocompatible, and designed to disappear cleanly into bone.

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Our Mission

Replacing plastic with nature's own protein.

Millions of absorbable plastic implants are used annually in orthopaedic surgery across suture anchors, screws, plates, and other fixation devices. OrthoSilk is commercializing the only protein-based alternative — built on 20 years of peer-reviewed silk biomaterial science from the Kaplan Lab at Tufts University and developed alongside Harvard surgeons at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

The Problem with Current Implants
~3 million+ plastic implants used annually in US orthopaedic surgery
1
Inflammatory breakdown products
Plastic polymers (PLA, PLGA) release acidic byproducts as they degrade — triggering inflammation, foreign body reactions, and compromised healing.
2
Unpredictable fragmentation
Haphazard, outside-in breakdown leaves bone cysts and voids at the anchor site — documented in ACL and rotator cuff patients years after surgery.
3
No material innovation in 20+ years
The $1.5B bioresorbable implant market has seen no fundamental change in materials science — creating a clear opening for a protein-based alternative.
Technology

What silk can do that
plastic cannot.

Silk fibroin is a natural structural protein with programmable mechanical strength, predictable outside-in degradation, and amino-acid breakdown products the body simply absorbs. The Kaplan Lab's patented thermoplastic moulding process — published in Nature Materials (2020) — unlocks its use in precision orthopaedic devices.

01
Bioresorbable Suture Anchors
First-in-class silk protein anchor for soft tissue-to-bone fixation. ACL repair, rotator cuff, Bankart repair. FDA 510(k) Class II pathway.
Beachhead · ~$500M US market · Target 2027
02
Load-Bearing Fixation
Silk screws, plates, and pins for upper extremity fracture fixation — enabled by the thermoplastic processing breakthrough achieving strength comparable to existing bioresorbables.
Expansion · ~$1.0B US market · Target 2028
03
Drug-Eluting Platform
Silk's protein matrix embeds growth factors, antibiotics, and bone-stimulating agents directly — without additional carriers. Demonstrated in peer-reviewed preclinical studies.
Platform · ~$1.5B US market · Target 2031+
PropertyOrthoSilk™TitaniumPLA / PLGA
Adequate mechanical strength✓✓✓
Biocompatible protein material✓✓✗
Fully bioresorbable✓✗✓
Clean amino acid breakdown✓✓✗
Promotes bone replacement✓✗✗
Drug elution capable✓✗✗
No secondary removal surgery✓✗✓
Publications & Press

Peer-reviewed science.
Global media recognition.

OrthoSilk's technology is grounded in two decades of Kaplan Lab research — published in Nature Communications, Nature Materials, PNAS, and Biomaterials — and has attracted attention from leading science and general media worldwide.

Nature
Materials Thermoplastic Moulding of Regenerated Silk — Guo, Li, Vu, Hanna, Lechtig, Qiu, Mu, Ling, Nazarian, Lin, Kaplan. Nature Materials, vol. 19, pp. 102–108 (2020). The patented manufacturing process underpinning OrthoSilk's device platform. 2020 Nature
Comms The Use of Silk-Based Devices for Fracture Fixation — Perrone, Leisk, Lo, Moreau, Haas, Papenburg, Golden, Partlow, Fox, Ibrahim, Lin, Kaplan. Nature Communications, vol. 5, art. 3385 (2014). Landmark in vivo study demonstrating silk screw biocompatibility and bone remodelling. 2014 Biomaterials Regenerated Silk Materials for Functionalized Silk Orthopedic Devices — Li, Hotz, Ling, Guo, Haas, Marelli, Omenetto, Lin, Kaplan. Biomaterials, vol. 110, pp. 24–33 (2016). All-aqueous processing yielding machinable devices with antibiotic delivery capability. 2016 PNAS High-Strength Silk Protein Scaffolds for Bone Repair — Mandal, Grinberg, Gil, Panilaitis, Kaplan. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2012). Silk composites achieving ~13 MPa compressive strength in hydrated state. 2012 Biomimetics Redefining Surgical Materials: Silk Fibroin in Osteofixation and Fracture Repair — Foppiani, Taritsa, Foster, Patel, Hernandez Alvarez, Lee, Lin, Kaplan. Biomimetics, vol. 9, no. 5 (2024). 2024
Featured In
Nature Publishing Group
Silk-based devices for fracture fixation — landmark paper in Nature Communications
Nature Publishing Group
The Guardian
Coverage of Kaplan Lab silk biomaterial advances and medical device applications
The Guardian
The Telegraph
Reporting on silk protein as a breakthrough material for orthopaedic surgery
The Telegraph
Popular Science
Silk screws and plates: the next generation of bioresorbable orthopaedic hardware
Popular Science
USA Today
Tufts University researchers develop silk-based implants for bone repair
USA Today
Science News
Silk fibroin orthopedic devices — from Kaplan Lab research to clinical application
Science News
Team

Built by leaders across
clinical, science, and commerce.

The Team
Samuel Lin
Samuel Lin, MD, MBA, FACS
Surgeon-inventor and Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Has performed thousands of relevant orthopedic and reconstructive procedures. Co-author of the landmark Nature Communications silk fracture fixation paper (2014).
Brett Boghigian
Brett Boghigian, PhD
Biochemical engineer specializing in commercializing biomaterial technologies. Former Head of R&D at Mori (Cambridge Crops). Expertise in scaling silk-adjacent materials from laboratory to production. Founder and former COO at SIA.
Alexei Mlodinow
Alexei Mlodinow, MD, MBA
Surgeon-entrepreneur with two successful company exits. Forbes 30 Under 30 in Healthcare. Brings clinical depth and commercial expertise to OrthoSilk's go-to-market strategy and surgeon adoption plan.
Todd Cruikshank
Todd Cruikshank, MBA
GM and operator across early- and growth-stage health tech companies. Founder and former COO at Surgical Innovation Associates. Operational expertise across the path to commercial launch and scaling.
Board of Directors
Samuel Lin
Samuel Lin, MD
Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and attending surgeon at BIDMC. Co-founder and clinical lead for OrthoSilk's device development and surgeon adoption strategy.
David Kaplan
David Kaplan, PhD
Stern Family Endowed Professor of Engineering and Chair of Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University, and the world's foremost authority on silk biomaterials. Has published over 700 peer-reviewed papers and holds 24 patents, with his lab's silk thermoplastic processing breakthrough — published in Nature Materials — forming the scientific foundation of OrthoSilk's technology.
Marc Meunier
Marc Meunier, JD
Founding General Counsel of Indigo Agriculture, with prior senior roles at J&J Medical Devices. Brings deep expertise in legal strategy, corporate development, and investor relations, with a track record of supporting high-growth companies from early stage through global expansion.
Neal Rajdev
Neal Rajdev, MBA
Senior finance and corporate development executive with experience at Citigroup, DaVita, and Indigo Agriculture. Brings $5B+ in transactional expertise and a track record across healthcare, financial services, and high-growth technology companies.
Advisory Board
Suresh Nayak
Suresh Nayak, MD
Clinical Advisor
Orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine and soft tissue repair. Brings front-line clinical perspective to OrthoSilk's product development and surgeon adoption strategy.
drsureshnayak.com ↗

Ready to learn more?
Let's talk.

We welcome conversations with investors, clinical partners, and strategic collaborators.

[email protected]
OrthoSilk, Inc. · Technology exclusively licensed from Tufts University · Boston, MA