Scientists transform wool into bone repair material

Scientists have shown how wool could offer an effective and sustainable alternative to materials currently used to repair damaged bone. In the new study, keratin—a natural structural protein derived from wool—was shown to support bone regeneration in a living animal, producing bone tissue that more closely resembled natural, healthy bone than the current gold standard.

The King’s College London team tested the wool-based keratin in animal models and found the material was able to guide new bone growth across damaged areas.

“We are really excited to show for the first time how a wool-based material has been successfully tested in a living animal to repair bones,” said Dr. Sherif Elsharkawy at King’s Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences.

As well as showing promising performance, the material offers a sustainability advantage, as wool is a naturally derived material and is often a waste product from the farming industry, making it both a renewable and scalable resource.

For decades, collagen has been considered the gold standard scaffold used in many regenerative medical and dental applications. It acts as protective barriers, preventing soft tissue from interfering with healing while allowing bone to grow back.

However, collagen is not without limitations. It is relatively weak and can break down too quickly, which can be a problem when used to repair bones that must support weight or resist force. It can also be complex and expensive to extract.

“From a research perspective, this is a major milestone. It positions keratin as a potential new class of regenerative biomaterial that could challenge the long-standing reliance on collagen,” said Elsharkawy.

To explore the material’s potential, the researchers developed membranes using keratin extracted from wool and chemically treated them to create stable, durable scaffolds.

The team first tested the membranes on human bone cells in the laboratory, where the cells thrived and showed clear signs of healthy bone formation.

They then implanted the membranes into rats with skull defects large enough that they would not heal naturally. Over several weeks, the researchers monitored how the keratin membranes supported new bone growth across the damaged areas.

Although collagen membranes produced more bone overall, the keratin scaffolds created bone that was more organized and structurally secure, with better-aligned fibers that closely resembled natural, healthy bone.

The membranes also integrated smoothly with surrounding tissue and remained stable throughout the healing process, both essential qualities for real-world medical use.

“We’ve effectively demonstrated the technology in an animal model, which makes this much more than an early materials concept. It shows that keratin can support bone regeneration in a living biological system, bringing the technology significantly closer to use in real patients,” said Elsharkawy.