Synthetic spider silk made from bacteria

In California, University of the Pacific’s Dr. Craig Vierra demonstrated the procedures to harvest and process synthetic spider silk from bacteria.  His technique removes human variability by using a mechanical actuator.

Built by Dr. Vierra and his laboratory group, the mechanical actuator can reliably stretch fibers to a specified length, mimicking the spider’s natural post-spin. Dr. Vierra tells us, “The procedure decreases the variance in the mechanical properties that are seen. Before this procedure, there was a tremendous amount of variation in synthetic fibers.”

If scientists could reproduce the mechanical properties of spider spun silk in the laboratory, the material could be used in wide variety of products, ranging from bulletproof vests and aircraft bodies to bridge cables and medical sutures.  The work was presented as a video article in JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments.

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