RESEARCH FOCUS

We use spider silk biomimetics for biomedical and biotechnological applications. Spiders can handle the difficult task of producing massive amounts of aggregation prone proteins, store these at enormous concentrations in the silk glands and, upon wish, in fractions of a second turn the protein solution into the toughest fibers known to man. By studying spider silk biology we have developed the first biomimetic spinning method for artificial spider silk fibers. We are now scaling up the production, developing novel spinning technologies and use protein engineering to enhance the fibers’ mechanical properties. We also believe that we have much more to learn from studying how the silk glands work and have therefor launched projects that will in detail characterize the function of the different glandular cells. Finally, we are working on more applied projects where we use fibers and gels made from recombinant spider silk proteins for tissue engineering and for making bioactive materials.