I-Corps: Araknitek - Synthetic Spider Silk Adhesives

长期以来，蜘蛛丝因其坚固的纤维特性和生物相容性而受到追捧。直到最近，机制还不存在探索重组蜘蛛丝（rSSp）的格式以外的纤维。最近一项将rSSp单独溶解在水中的研究发现，这些蛋白质也能起到粘合剂的作用。到目前为止，硅酮，特氟龙，聚氨酯，不锈钢和木材已经与rSSp粘在一起。测试结果令人印象深刻。rSSp不仅能将基材粘附在一起，而且具有显著的强度。在木材的情况下，木材往往会在粘合接缝之前失效。重组蜘蛛丝胶优于埃尔默木胶和大猩猩胶。当硅树脂涂覆rSSp时，利用其粘接性，涂层在严重弯曲时不会与硅树脂分离。有了这些特性，rSSp作为粘合剂可以满足许多潜在的产品领域。这个I-Corps团队假设，生物医学市场将是最适合该技术的潜在应用领域，如外科胶水、涂料等。该团队还潜在地考虑了某些工业应用，在这些应用中，纯天然的绿色粘合剂可能会受到欢迎。该团队参加I-Corps项目的目标是接受并实施必要的培训，以采访尽可能多的潜在最终用户、关键合作伙伴以及价值链上的各个点，以了解粘合剂市场的关键痛点。这些讨论的最终结果将是基于我们的商业模式画布来定义我们的最小可行产品。通过这一分析，将决定进行商业化或回到实验室和完善产品。该建议的范围是通过在I-Corps队列的过程中进行如上所述的访谈来验证商业化假设。Araknitek团队将在7周的时间内进行100多次客户访谈。该团队已经确定了亚特兰大地区的一些粘合剂产品公司，目前正在积极征求面试，以便在项目的第一天进行。Araknitek吗?I-Corps的参与最终将使我们清楚地了解如何利用拟议的蜘蛛丝技术产生经济影响。

Spider silk has long been sought after for its combination of robust fiber properties and biocompatibility. Until recently, mechanisms did not exist to explore recombinant spider silks (rSSp) in formats other than fibers. A recent development to solubilize rSSp in water alone has led to the discovery that these proteins are also capable of performing as adhesives. To date silicone, Teflon, polyurethane, stainless steel and wood have been adhered with rSSp. The testing results were impressive. Not only did rSSp adhere the substrates together, it did so with remarkable strength. In the case of wood, the wood would often fail before the adhered joint. Recombinant spider silk adhesive outperformed both Elmer's wood glue and Gorilla glue. When silicone is coated with rSSp, taking advantage of its adhesive quality, the coating did not separate from the silicone when severely bent. With these characteristics, there are a number of potential product fields that rSSp as an adhesive could satisfy. This I-Corps team hypothesizes that the biomedical market will be the best fit for the proposed technology with potential applications as surgical glue, coatings and others. The team also potentially views certain industrial applications where an all-natural green adhesive could be favorably received. The team's goal of participating in the I-Corps program is to receive and implement the training necessary to interview as many potential end users, key partners, as well as points along the value chain, to understand critical pain points in the adhesives market. The end result of these discussions will be a definition of our minimal viable product based upon our business model canvas. Through this analysis, the decision will made to proceed with commercialization or to go back to the laboratory and refine the product. The scope of the proposal is to validate commercialization hypotheses by conducting interviews as described above, over the course of the I-Corps cohort. The Araknitek team will be conducting over 100 customer interviews over the 7 week period. The team has already identified a number of adhesive product companies in the Atlanta area and is currently actively soliciting interviews to be conducted on the first day of the program. Araknitek?s participation in this I-Corps cohort will culminate in a clear understanding of what is necessary to make an economic impact with the proposed spider silk technology.