A natural protein, specifically silk fibroin or sericin, is chemically modified such that it can be rendered photoactive, but which otherwise has similar structure and attributes as silk fibroin or sericin. This chemically modified silk conjugate can be patterned using radiant energy to produce patterned silk materials which may be used for a wide variety of applications such as making micro and nanoparticles of different shapes and functionalities for drug delivery, creating new forms of intricate 3D scaffolds for tissue engineering, and forming substrates for flexible bio-electronics.