A scaffold of nanoscale fibers that self-assembles from small, synthetic protein-like components provides a framework for the regrowth of damaged brain tissue, allowing vision to be restored in hamsters with brain lesions, a team in the USA and China reports.

The nano-scaffold, made of short peptides, is biodegradable and non-toxic, causes no immune response, is injectable — it self-assembles when the molecules come together in a salty solution — and, because it is composed of nanofibers, allows an intimate interaction between the peptide matrix and the surrounding tissue. The researchers say that it provides a “permissive environment” that helps cells, such as neurons, regrow and knit together damaged tissue.