I-Corps: Araknitek - Synthetic Spider Silk Adhesives

蜘蛛丝因其坚固的纤维特性和生物兼容性而长期受到追捧。直到最近，还不存在以纤维以外的形式探索重组蜘蛛丝(RSSp)的机制。最近的一项仅在水中溶解rSSp的研究发现，这些蛋白质也能够作为粘合剂。到目前为止，硅胶、特氟龙、聚氨酯、不锈钢和木材都已被rSSp粘合。测试结果令人印象深刻。RSSP不仅将底物粘合在一起，而且具有非凡的强度。在木头的情况下，木头通常会在粘合的接合处之前断裂。重组蜘蛛丝胶的性能优于埃尔默木胶和大猩猩胶。当有机硅被涂覆rSSp时，利用其粘合性能的优势，涂层在严重弯曲时不会与有机硅分离。有了这些特点，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，生物医学市场将最适合拟议的技术，具有潜在的应用，如外科胶水、涂层和其他。该团队还可能观察到某些工业应用，在这些应用中，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点，以了解胶粘剂市场的关键痛点。这些讨论的最终结果将是基于我们的商业模型画布对我们最低限度可行产品的定义。通过这一分析，将决定是继续商业化，还是回到实验室提炼产品。该提案的范围是通过在i-Corps队列过程中如上所述进行访谈来验证商业化假设。Araynek团队将在7周内进行100多次客户访谈。该团队已经在亚特兰大地区确定了多家粘合剂产品公司，目前正在积极征集采访，将在计划的第一天进行。阿拉科内克？S参与了i-Corps的这个队列，最终将清楚地理解什么是通过拟议的蜘蛛丝技术产生经济影响所必需的。

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.