Edible Matrix Code with Photogenic Silk Proteins.

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Engineering
• Pharmaceutical Security
• Sustainable Manufacturing

Background:

• Counterfeit medicines pose significant risks to patient safety and public health, causing economic losses.
• Existing anticounterfeiting technologies face limitations due to material toxicity and reliance on secondary packaging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an edible, imperceptible, and scalable matrix code for pharmaceutical anticounterfeiting and authentication.
• To create a dosage-level security solution that empowers patients in combating illicit drugs.

Main Methods:

• Utilized silk fibroin genetically encoded with fluorescent proteins from sustainable silkworm farming.
• Incorporated three distinct fluorescence emission colors into a multidimensional parameter space for variable encoding capacity.
• Developed a smartphone-readable system with deep neural network and cryptographic hash function for security and error correction.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated biocompatibility, photostability, thermal stability, and long-term reliability of the edible matrix code.
• Achieved a low bit error ratio, ensuring data integrity and feasibility for practical application.
• Validated the code's capability for serialization, track and trace, and authentication at the dosage level.

Conclusions:

• The developed edible matrix code offers a novel, feasible solution for pharmaceutical anticounterfeiting at the dosage level.
• This technology enhances drug security, combats counterfeit medicines, and empowers patients with authentication capabilities.
• The sustainable and biocompatible nature of the code supports its broad applicability in healthcare.