Kraig produces next generation of spider silk

04 Jun '19

2 min read

Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, a developer of spider silk-based fibres, has created the next generation of recombinant spider silk using its new design, gene editing, and incorporation approaches. This is meant to customise mechanical properties for specific commercial markets and demonstrates the company’s ability to efficiently produce new transgenics.

This is the material science breakthrough that the company has been pushing for since establishing the Dragon Silk line. This new transgenic was specifically engineered for high strength and significantly higher protein expression levels. The achievement marks a significant milestone in Kraig Labs’ mission to produce and commercialise eco-friendly materials that exceed the performance and strength of native spider silk.

“This breakthrough has powerful ramifications that affect the core of how we develop future spider silk materials,” said COO Jon Rice. “These newly confirmed transgenics mark a revolutionary advancement in capability of our spider silk materials. The new tools developed by Dr. Kane and our research team will allow us to target commercial markets that were not originally on our radar.”

Screening of these samples confirms that the gene edit was successful, validating the underlying protocols and genetic constructs. The western blot analysis, performed on the silk, confirms expression of this new and potentially much more powerful spider silk protein. These results open the door for the company to deploy this new methodology towards a variety of tailored spider silk designs. Kraig Labs expects these new recombinant spider silk fibre lines will open up broader commercial opportunities and complement the company’s existing Monster Silk and Dragon Silk technologies. (SV)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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