PFI: BIC Developing the Potential of Spider Silk for the Marketplace

犹他州州立大学(USU)的这一创新伙伴关系：建设创新能力项目旨在将蜘蛛丝的独特特性从实验室转移到市场。蜘蛛丝同时表现出优异的强度和韧性，这在大多数合成结构材料中是无法实现的，而且它的导热系数与铜相当。在密歇根州立大学，已经开发并合成了与天然蜘蛛丝序列非常相似的重组丝素。蜘蛛丝？S属性的发现和早期开发，导致了目前与商业和行业合作伙伴联合技术导向的研究的点。三个行业合作伙伴和一个非营利性合作伙伴都有开发蜘蛛丝产品的潜力。该项目将生产具有生物灵感的纤维，其材料特性特别适合每一家合作公司？可能的产品原型。这项研究将结合专业知识和资源，使蜘蛛丝技术在三个不同领域的产品成为可能：1)生物医学应用，特别是用于眼科和神经外科的微细缝合；2)合成蜘蛛丝纤维的复合材料；以及3)用于微生物发酵和家蚕合成饲料的介质，旨在增加生产独特蛋白质的典型材料。此外，还将探索蜘蛛丝独特的热传递特性，以评估其在各种应用中的用途。研究的重点将是哪些人造蜘蛛丝最适合不同的用途，如何将这些蜘蛛丝蛋白的生产扩大到可以商业化的水平，以及如何将这些纤维整合到公司中？未来的原型。这项研究的更广泛影响在于，由于这些材料的独特性质，合作伙伴开发上述产品和技术的潜力将打开新的市场，目前任何其他材料都无法与之匹敌。设想的新产品将大幅增加合作伙伴公司的收入，开辟新的产品线，并可能为它们和下游企业带来更多就业机会。这些公司将直接获得新的技术技能，如静电纺丝、纤维测试、处理独特纤维的方法以及新饲料介质的测试方法。作为回报，密歇根州立大学的刘易斯实验室将在复合材料设计和制造、3D打印、快速原型技术和媒体分析方法方面获得经验。两家公司和美国州立大学的实验室都将获得独特的仪器，帮助学术界和工业界未来利用这些独特的材料开发产品。此外，重要的是，发展媒体和饮食以提高真丝纤维的产量，将是生产满足预期需求的关键。这些伙伴关系还可能导致在其他公司的其他产品中使用蜘蛛丝。除了参与该项目的研究科学家，参与该项目的学生还将获得与行业合作伙伴和公司科学家合作的宝贵经验，不仅是在研究方面，而且在规划和设计阶段也是如此。学生还将有机会介绍他们的研究，并与PI合作，向K-12学生介绍和参观几个关于蜘蛛和蜘蛛丝的外展活动。该项目还将为高中生工程州会议提供实践讲习班，目标是招收女性和西班牙裔学生。这一研究领域继续引起美国和国际多家电视台对皮埃尔？S研究和赞助商的热情关注。项目开始时的合作伙伴是犹他州立大学(合成生物制品研究所和联合科学技术高级研究院(USTAR))和三家主要的小型技术企业：Caisson实验室公司(洛根，UT)；Iso Nano International，LLC(加利福尼亚州圣地亚哥)；Zigg Design，LLC(洛根，UT)；以及一个非营利性合作者，空间动力学实验室(Logan，UT)。

This Partnerships for Innovation: Building Innovation Capacity project from Utah State University (USU) is designed to move the unique properties of spider silk from the laboratory to the marketplace. Spider silks exhibit excellent strength and toughness simultaneously, a feat unachievable in most synthetic structural materials, and it has a thermal conductivity equivalent to copper. At USU, recombinant silks closely mimicking natural spider silk sequences have been developed and synthesized. The discovery and early development of spider silk?s properties has led to the current point of joint technology-oriented research with business and industry partners. Three industry partners and one non-profit collaborator all have potential of developing spider silk products. This project will produce bio-inspired fibers with materials properties specifically appropriate for each of the partnering companies? possible product prototypes. This research will combine expertise and resources to make it possible to move spider silk technology toward products in three distinct areas: 1) biomedical applications, in particular micro-fine sutures for eye and nerve surgery; 2) composite materials from synthetic spider silk fibers; and 3) media for microbial fermentation and synthetic feed for silkworms designed to augment typical materials for production of the unique proteins. In addition, the unique thermal transfer properties of spider silk will be explored to assess its use in a variety of applications. The research will focus on which synthetic spider silks will be the best for the different possible uses, how to scale-up production of those spider silk proteins to levels that can be commercialized, and how to incorporate these fibers into the companies? prospective prototypes. The broader impacts of the research lie in the potential of the partnership to develop the products and techniques described above that will open up new markets due to the unique properties of these materials, which cannot currently be matched by any other materials. The new products envisioned would substantially increase the revenue for the partner companies, open up new product lines, and likely lead to increased jobs for them and downstream businesses. The companies will directly gain new technical skills such as electrospinning, fiber testing, methods for handling unique fibers, and testing methods for new feed media. In return, the Lewis Laboratory at USU will gain experience in composite material design and manufacture, 3D printing, rapid prototyping techniques, and methods for media analyses. Both the companies and the USU laboratory will gain access to unique instrumentation aiding both academe and industry in the future development of products from these unique materials. Also, importantly the development of media and diets to improve the production of the silk fibers will be crucial for production to meet expected demand. These partnerships can also lead to the use of spider silk in additional products in other companies. In addition to the research scientists participating in this project, students involved in this project will also gain valuable experience working with industry partners and with company scientists not only in the research, but also in the planning and design phases. Students will also have opportunities to present on their research and work with the PI in outreach efforts to give several presentations and tours on spiders and spider silk to K-12 students. The project will also provide hands-on workshops for the Engineering State conference for high school students with a particular goal of recruiting women and Hispanic students. This research area has continued to produce enthusiastic media attention for both the PI?s research and sponsors in the U.S. and internationally from multiple television networks. Partners at the inception of the project are Utah State University (Synthetic Bioproducts Institute and United Science Technology Advanced Research(USTAR) and three primary small technology businesses: Caisson Laboratories, Inc.(Logan, UT); Iso Nano International, LLC (San Diego, CA); Zigg Design, LLC(Logan, UT; and a non-profit collaborator, Space Dynamics Laboratory(Logan, UT).