(The Gist of Science Reporter) Edible “Security Tags” Protecting Drugs from Duplicacy [MARCH-2020]

(The Gist of Science Reporter) Edible “Security Tags” Protecting Drugs from Duplicacy

Purdue University researchers have designed an edible “security tag” to tackle the problem of counterfeiting of drugs.
The security tag can be embedded in medicine. To copy the drug, a counterfeiter would have to solve a complicated puzzle of patterns not completely visible to the naked eye.
The tag serves as a digital fingerprint for a drug capsule or tablet. It uses a verification technique called''physical unclonable functions,” or PUF.
PUFs generate a different response once stimulated, rendering them unpredictable and very difficult to imitate. It is the first edible PUT - a thin, transparent film made up of silk proteins and fluorescent proteins which are fused genetically.
As the tag is easily digestible and made entirely of proteins, it can be consumed as part of a pill or tablet. The research has been published in thejournal Nature Communications.