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

犹他州立大学（USU）的创新伙伴关系：建设创新能力项目旨在将蜘蛛丝的独特特性从实验室推向市场。蜘蛛丝同时表现出优异的强度和韧性，这是大多数合成结构材料无法实现的壮举，而且它的导热性相当于铜。在USU，已经开发和合成了与天然蜘蛛丝序列非常相似的重组蛛丝。蜘蛛丝的发现和早期发展？S properties已经导致了目前与商业和行业合作伙伴联合进行面向技术的研究。三个行业合作伙伴和一个非营利合作伙伴都有开发蜘蛛丝产品的潜力。该项目将生产生物纤维，其材料性能特别适合每个合作公司。可能的产品原型。这项研究将结合专业知识和资源，使蜘蛛丝技术有可能在三个不同的领域应用：1)生物医学应用，特别是用于眼睛和神经手术的微细缝合线；2)合成蜘蛛丝纤维复合材料；3)微生物发酵培养基和蚕合成饲料设计，以增加生产独特蛋白质的典型材料。此外，将探讨蜘蛛丝独特的热传导特性，以评估其在各种应用中的用途。研究将集中在哪种合成蜘蛛丝最适合不同的用途，如何将这些蜘蛛丝蛋白的生产规模扩大到可以商业化的水平，以及如何将这些纤维纳入公司。未来的原型。这项研究更广泛的影响在于合作开发上述产品和技术的潜力，由于这些材料的独特性能，这些产品和技术将开辟新的市场，这是目前任何其他材料都无法比拟的。设想的新产品将大大增加合作伙伴公司的收入，开辟新的产品线，并可能为他们和下游企业带来更多的就业机会。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，USU的Lewis实验室将获得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的经验。两家公司和USU实验室都将获得独特的仪器，帮助学术界和工业界在未来开发这些独特材料的产品。此外，重要的是，发展培养基和日粮以提高蚕丝纤维的产量将对生产满足预期需求至关重要。这些伙伴关系还可以导致其他公司在其他产品中使用蜘蛛丝。除了参与该项目的研究科学家外，参与该项目的学生还将在研究，规划和设计阶段与行业合作伙伴和公司科学家合作，获得宝贵的经验。学生们也将有机会展示他们的研究成果，并与PI一起为K-12学生做一些关于蜘蛛和蜘蛛丝的演讲和参观。该项目还将为工程州会议的高中生提供实践研讨会，其特别目标是招募女性和西班牙裔学生。这一研究领域继续引起媒体对PI？在美国和国际多个电视网络的研究和赞助商。该项目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所（USTAR））和三家主要的小型技术企业：Caisson Laboratories， Inc.(Logan， UT)；Iso Nano International, LLC (San Diego， CA)；Zigg设计有限责任公司（Logan， UT）和非营利性合作伙伴空间动力学实验室（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).