Kraig Biocraft rears first lot of production silkworms

13 Nov '19

2 min read

Pic: Kraig Biocraft Laboratories

Kraig Biocraft Laboratories’ Vietnamese subsidiary, Prodigy Textiles, has reared the first batch of production silkworms. The company’s recombinant spider silk silkworms were hatched over a 7-day period starting October 8. The silkworms began spinning cocoons on October 27 and finished on November 2. Kraig Biocraft Laboratories develops spider silk fibres.

After removal of the cocoons from the mounting frames, the cocoons will be prepared for the silk moths to emerge. The entire population of emerging silk moths will be dedicated to breeding stock, in order to rapidly expand the company silk production capacity at Prodigy Textiles.

The second round of production is slated to begin later in November and the resulting silk cocoons will be reeled and spun into finished silk thread. This thread will be the first recombinant spider silk thread available from Prodigy Textiles and is scheduled to be delivered to a collaborative partner the company has been working with to develop new materials and applications.

With operations fully underway, the company expects to maintain a continuous production output at Prodigy Textiles and will plan to bring additional materials to market to address the backlog of inquiries in the coming months.

“The Prodigy Textiles production ramp up continues to demonstrate the efficacy of our manufacturing strategy. The success of this first wave of operations will serve as the blueprint for the successive expansion. Our direct, drop-in strategy is already proving its effectiveness to scale Dragonsilk 2.0. We believe this demonstration of rapid expansion will clear the path to fast-track our operations growth and quickly reach our targeted capacity,” Jon Rice, the company’s COO, said.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (SV)

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