Latest Spider silk Stories

Researchers have shown for the first time how Golden orb web spiders (Nephila antipodiana) add a chemical to their web silk to repel invading ants. The finding adds a chemical defense to the impressive properties of spider silk, already known to be very strong, elastic and adhesive, and may provide new opportunities for pesticide design. The study was led by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the University of Melbourne, and is published in the journal...

A new episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) award-winning "Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions" podcast series spins a real-life tale in which spider silk shows promise for overcoming a major barrier to the use of gene therapy in everyday medicine. The new installment from the world's largest scientific society explains in non-technical language that gene therapy involves the use of beneficial genes to prevent or treat disease. It requires safe and efficient carriers or...

Strand for strand no fabric can compare to the luxurious feel, luminosity and sheen of pure silk. Since millennia, the Chinese have been unraveling the cocoons of the silk worm (Bombyx mori) and weaving the fibers into sumptuous garments, hangings, carpets, tapestries and even artworks of painted silk. Now, for the first time, scientists at the Smithsonian's Museum Conservation Institute have developed a fast and reliable method to date silk. This new technique, which is based on capillary...

"The strength of spider dragline silk exceeds that of any material produced in laboratories, by far. All attempts to manufacture threads of similar strength have failed thus far," explains Professor Horst Kessler, Carl von Linde Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at the TU Muenchen (TUM-IAS). In collaboration with the workgroup of Prof. Thomas Scheibel, who was a researcher at the TU Muenchen until 2007 and who now holds a chair of the Institute of Biomaterials at the Universitaet...

Genetically engineered spider silk could help overcome a major barrier to the use of gene therapy in everyday medicine, according to a new study that reported development and successful initial laboratory tests of such a material. It appears in ACS' journal Bioconjugate Chemistry.David Kaplan and colleagues note that gene therapy "” the use of beneficial genes to prevent or treat disease "” requires safe and efficient carriers or "vectors." Those carriers are the counterparts to...

A spectacular golden textile, conceived and created by Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley in Madagascar from silk thread collected from over one million Golden Orb spiders (Nephila madagascariensis), will go on exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago, the country's second largest art museum. On special loan to the museum from Mssrs. Peers and Godley as part of the inaugural celebration of the museum's new galleries devoted to African art and Indian art of the Americas, the Spider Silk...

ST. LOUIS, April 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sigma Life Science, the innovative biological products and services research business of Sigma-Aldrich® (Nasdaq: SIAL), today announced the signing of an agreement with Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. (KBLB) to develop genetically modified silkworms for the production of spider silk, using Sigma's proprietary CompoZr Zinc Finger Nuclease (ZFN) technology. The transfer of silk genes from the spider to the silkworm is expected to allow the mass...

Scientists now have a better understanding of why spider silk fibers are so incredibly strong. Recent research, published by Cell Press on February 15th in Biophysical Journal, describes the architecture of silk fibers from the atomic level up and reveals new information about the molecular structure that underlies the amazing mechanical characteristics of this fascinating natural material.Spiders spin silk, which is remarkably strong and stretchy, to use in webs and to suspend themselves....

Studying spider silk, NSF-supported researchers learn about the properties of this sticky material, and their findings could lead to new bio-adhesives and glues that work under water Ali Dhinojwala and Vasav Sahni consider themselves materials scientists, not biologists. They study surfaces, friction and adhesion. Nevertheless, they have discovered that understanding how nature makes things stick sometimes means getting up close and personal with the creatures responsible. When they...

A research and development effort by the University of Notre Dame, the University of Wyoming, and Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. has succeeded in producing transgenic silkworms capable of spinning artificial spider silks."This research represents a significant breakthrough in the development of superior silk fibers for both medical and non-medical applications," said Malcolm J. Fraser Jr., a Notre Dame professor of biological sciences. "The generation of silk fibers having...