I-Corps: Araknitek - Synthetic Spider Silk Adhesives

蜘蛛丝因其强大的纤维特性和生物相容性而长期受到追捧。 直到最近，还不存在机制，以探索重组蜘蛛丝（rSSp）的形式以外的纤维。 最近将rSSp单独溶解在水中的发展导致发现这些蛋白质也能够作为粘合剂。 迄今为止，硅胶、聚四氟乙烯、聚氨酯、不锈钢和木材已被rSSp粘附。 测试结果令人印象深刻。 rSSp不仅能将基质粘合在一起，而且具有显著的强度。 在木材的情况下，木材通常会在粘合接头之前失效。 重组蜘蛛丝粘合剂优于埃尔默的木材胶和大猩猩胶。 当硅树脂涂有rSSp时，利用其粘合性，当严重弯曲时涂层不会与硅树脂分离。 凭借这些特性，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拟议技术的市场，其潜在应用包括手术胶、涂层等。 该团队还可能考虑某些工业应用，其中全天然绿色粘合剂可能会受到欢迎。 该团队参与I-Corps计划的目标是接受和实施必要的培训，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沿着的各个点，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定义我们的最小可行产品。 通过这种分析，将决定继续商业化或回到实验室并改进产品。 该提案的范围是通过在I-Corps队列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周内进行100多个客户访谈。 该团队已经确定了亚特兰大地区的一些胶粘剂产品公司，目前正在积极征求在该计划的第一天进行的采访。 阿拉克尼泰克？的参与这一I-Corps队列将达到高潮，在一个明确的理解是什么是必要的，使经济影响与拟议的蜘蛛丝技术。

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.