Spider silk want to mass production first "to Spider", MIT development of artificial spider silk Technology

There are many magical materials in nature, spider silk is one of them, do not underestimate the thin spider silk, its strength than high-grade alloy steel, absorbing the impact of the ability to absorb the bulletproof vest material, at the same time with the advantages of light weight, high strength, so that the material has long coveted spider silk, but to use in industry, the biggest problem is , and a large number of breeding spiders is not a good idea, it is best to "go spider" artificial synthesis.

In the past, many scientists have wanted to use genetic engineering to synthesize spider filaments, such as the use of genetically engineered silkworms, or genetically engineered goat cells, and genetically engineered Escherichia coli to make protein ingredients that make up spider silk, the latest breakthrough from MIT, MIT The team thinks spider silk is best used as the skeleton of surgical suture and artificial organ, because spider silk is not only high strength, but also can be absorbed by the body to disappear material, no need to remove stitches or removed in future.

The MIT team first used genetically engineered bacteria to produce the protein ingredients that make up the spider silk, dissolve the protein molecules in water, and then squeeze them out of the narrow openings, forcing the hydrophilic molecules and hydrophobic molecules in the extrusion to form a new material that is stronger than these materials, but the key is the molecular proportions, Once the proportions are wrong, the product is ruined, the whole process has to start from scratch, and in order to avoid the waste of the day, the MIT team uses computer simulations to calculate molecular-level simulations to test the results of a variety of different protein molecules combined in different proportions.

This also allows the team to develop products that vary in demand, such as the need for surgical sutures that are not as resilient as spider filaments, and the team can simulate a less resilient structure by computer simulations.

At present, the artificial spider silk in the strength is still inferior to the true spider silk, but the team thinks by the computer simulation power to gradually fine-tune, to find the correct material combination, hoped gradually improves the artificial spider silk strength, the elasticity and so on, but because this process is at room temperature with the aqueous solution carries on, therefore the future very easy enters the mass production Perhaps in the near future, we will see the sale of artificial spider silk products.

Spider silk want to mass production first "to Spider", MIT development of artificial spider silk Technology