Thus far, the research has gone well. I’ve been able to answer the essential questions that I wanted. What I found out was that the body will not reject a graft constructed by spider silk or an identical synthetic silk. This means that the graft can be used, as the body will recognize the material’s composition to be a non-threat. Another major component I have been able to research is how a ligament graft can be surgically put in place. A couple of techniques are by using surgical staples or using surgical screws among other components. I don’t have much of a solid grasp on this yet, so there will be more research needed in the future. It seems like there is an overwhelming amount of information to understand, but at the same time it is also interesting. One of the major background pieces of information I recently researched was about grafts. Being interested in the medical field, I was aware of grafts, but in order to accurately write the project plan I need evidence backing up my statements. There are two main types of grafts for surgery; they are an allograft and autograft. An autograft is from the patient themself, as “auto” means self. An allograft is an alternative in which the graft is formed from a donor’s tissue or outside source (not the patient). Usually the graft can be formed from several different tissues, such as the quadriceps, patella, and hamstring tendons. Overall, the research is going well, but as always there is room for improvement and further research can only help the process of this project.
