Team:Utah State

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Revision as of 03:37, 4 October 2012

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Project Summary

Spider silk is the strongest known biomaterial, with a large variety of potential applications. These potential applications include artificial tendons and ligaments, biomedical sutures, athletic gear, parachute cords, air bags, and other yet discovered products which require a high tensile strength with amazing extendability. Spiders, however, cannot be farmed because they are territorial and cannibalistic. Thus, an alternative to producing spider silk must be found. We aim to engineer spider silk genes into E. coli to produce this highly valuable product. Spider silk production in bacteria has been limited due to the highly repetitive nature of the spider silk amino acids in the protein. To overcome this obstacle, we are using various synthetic biology techniques to boost spider silk protein production and increase cellular fitness. After successful production, spider silk protein is artificially spun into usable fibers and tested for mechanical and physical properties.

Team Successes

First ever spider silk BioBrick parts

First spun spider silk fiber from composite BioBrick part

Improved His-tag for better protein purification

First spider silk GFP fusion protein from BioBrick parts

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-Spider silk is the strongest known biomaterial, with a large variety of applications. These applications include artificial tendons and ligaments, biomedical sutures, athletic gear, parachute cords, air bags, and other yet discovered products which require a high tensile strength with amazing extendibility. Spiders, however, cannot be farmed because they are territorial and cannibalistic. Thus, an alternative to producing spider silk must be found. We aim to engineer spider silk genes into E. coli to produce this highly valuable product. Spider silk production in bacteria has been limited due to the highly repetitive nature of the spider silk amino acids in the protein. To overcome this obstacle, we are using various synthetic biology techniques to boost spider silk protein production and increase cellular fitness. After successful production, spider silk protein is artificially spun into usable fibers and tested for mechanical and physical properties.
+Spider silk is the strongest known biomaterial, with a large variety of potential applications. These potential applications include artificial tendons and ligaments, biomedical sutures, athletic gear, parachute cords, air bags, and other yet discovered products which require a high tensile strength with amazing extendability. Spiders, however, cannot be farmed because they are territorial and cannibalistic. Thus, an alternative to producing spider silk must be found. We aim to engineer spider silk genes into E. coli to produce this highly valuable product. Spider silk production in bacteria has been limited due to the highly repetitive nature of the spider silk amino acids in the protein. To overcome this obstacle, we are using various synthetic biology techniques to boost spider silk protein production and increase cellular fitness. After successful production, spider silk protein is artificially spun into usable fibers and tested for mechanical and physical properties.
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