US Patent Issued to City University of Hong Kong on July 14 for "Hydration-responsive shape-memory keratin composite fibers and fabrication methods thereof" (Chinese Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 14 -- United States Patent no. 12,678,336, issued on July 14, was assigned to City University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong, Hong Kong).

"Hydration-responsive shape-memory keratin composite fibers and fabrication methods thereof" was invented by Jinlian Hu (Hong Kong, Hong Kong) and Xiaoyun Xu (Hong Kong, Hong Kong).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Hydration-responsive shape-memory keratin composite fibers are provided. These fibers have a keratin network structure formed by keratin Alpha-helices bonded by disulfide bonds. Incorporated within the structure are cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), which provide hydrogen bonds and stabilize the Alpha-helix structure, introducing a hydrat...