SBIR Phase I: High Performance Ballistics Fibers from Spider's Silk

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将证明生产用于个人弹道装甲的高韧性蜘蛛丝纤维的商业可行性。 蜘蛛丝是自然界最卓越的材料之一，具有高拉伸强度和高延展性，与普通合成纤维相比，它具有无与伦比的韧性。 此外，它重量轻，透气，灵活，使其成为理想的材料，用于防护服，如防弹衣。 以前生产合成蜘蛛丝蛋白的方法是基于不完整的丝序列，以前创造丝腺的努力没有充分复制丝腺内部的条件。 在该项目中，基因工程和合成生物学的最新进展将用于重新设计天然丝基因，使丝蛋白能够在重组宿主中表达。 这种方法类似于最近的工作，使可再生能源的化学品和燃料的生产。 先进的微流体制造将被用来制造一种复制天然蜘蛛丝腺的机器人。 结合这些技术，将导致一个可再生的，可扩展的，和“绿色”的方法，制造下一代的高性能纤维的个人防护装甲。 该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是利用比当前弹道纤维更好的材料以更低的价格创造高性能和轻质防弹衣。 美国的防弹衣市场每年有数亿美元;由于其初始成本低和直接扩大规模，拟议的产品将能够实现可观的利润率。更坚固、更舒适、更便宜的防弹背心将使警察、士兵、警卫和任何面临射弹伤害的人受益。轻质和坚韧的纤维在从纺织品到体育用品的许多其他市场中也有应用。 此外，精确控制丝纤维性能的能力将使人们能够更好地理解蛋白质纤维的组装机制，并能够创造出具有适合应用要求的机械性能的新型材料。 最后，本文提出的研究将使廉价生产蛋白质材料（特别是丝材料），用于各种非纤维系统，包括组织工程支架，医疗设备和光学传感器。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate the commercial feasibility of producing high-toughness spider silk fibers for use in personal ballistic armor. Spider silk is one of nature's most remarkable materials, possessing high tensile strength and high extensibility, giving it an unrivaled toughness as compared with common synthetic fibers. In addition, it is lightweight, breathable, and flexible making it an ideal material for use in protective clothing such as body armor. Previous approaches to produce synthetic spider silk proteins have been based on incomplete silk sequences and previous efforts to create a silk spinneret have not sufficiently replicated the conditions inside the silk gland. In this project, the latest advances in genetic engineering and synthetic biology will be used to redesign a natural silk gene to enable expression of silk protein in a recombinant host. This methodology is similar to recent work which enabled the production of chemicals and fuels from renewable sources. Advanced microfluidics manufacturing will be used to create a spinneret that replicates a natural spider's silk gland. Combined, these technologies will result in a reproducible, scalable, and "green" method of manufacturing the next generation of high performance fibers for personal protective armor. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the creation of high-performance and lightweight body armor utilizing a better material at a lower price than current ballistic fibers. The market for body armor in the US is in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually; the proposed product will be able to achieve a significant profit margin due to its low initial costs and straightforward scale-up. Tougher, more comfortable, and cheaper bulletproof vests will benefit police, soldiers, guards, and anyone else who faces harm from projectiles. Lightweight and tough fibers have applications in numerous other markets, ranging from textiles to sporting goods. In addition, the ability to precisely control silk fiber properties will enable better understanding the assembly mechanisms of protein-based fibers and enable the creation of novel materials with mechanical properties tailored to application requirements. Finally, the research proposed herein will enable the inexpensive production of protein materials (specifically, silk materials) for use in a wide variety of non-fibrous systems including tissue engineering scaffolds, medical devices, and optical sensors.