Artificial Spider Silk

Artificial spider silk has been finally produced by researchers.

10:59 12 January 2017

A team of Swedish researchers has successfully produced artificial spider silk, which offers many advantages as it is stronger than steel but is light-weight and biodegradable.

 

For many years, many researchers have attempted to achieve such feat but have failed due to various challenges including the difficulty in keeping spiders in captivity and the fact that they spin only small amounts of silk.

 

Researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the Karolinska Institute have developed a method that uses a biomimetic spinning process to manufacture fibers that are similar to real spider silk.

 

Dr Anna Rising, one of the lead researchers of the study, said: 'To our surprise, this artificial protein is as water soluble as the natural spider silk proteins, which means that it is possible to keep the proteins soluble at extreme concentrations,' 

 

She added: 'This is the first successful example of biomimetic spider silk spinning. 

 

'We have designed a process that recapitulates many of the complex molecular mechanisms of native silk spinning. 

 

'In the future this may allow industrial production of artificial spider silk for biomaterial applications or for the manufacture of advanced textiles',