Ann Arbor-based Kraig Biocraft Laboratories has announced the creation of its next generation of recombinant spider silk using its new design, gene editing, and incorporation approaches.
Kraig Labs designed this approach to customize mechanical properties for specific commercial markets and has demonstrated the ability to more quickly, accurately, and efficiently generate new transgenics.
This newest transgenic was engineered for high strength and higher protein expression levels and advances the company’s mission to produce and commercialize eco-friendly materials that exceed the performance and strength of native spider silk. The company has been working on the technology since establishing its Dragon Silk line.
“This breakthrough has powerful ramifications that affect the core of how we develop future spider silk materials,” says Jon Rice, COO. “These newly confirmed transgenics mark a revolutionary advancement in capability of our spider silk materials. The new tools developed by Dr. Trevor Kane and our research team will allow us to target commercial markets that were not originally on our radar.”
Screening of the new samples confirmed that the gene edit was successful, validating the underlying protocols and genetic constructs. Western blot analysis performed on the silk confirmed the expression of this new and potentially more powerful silk protein. The results open the door for the company to deploy its new methodology toward a variety of tailored spider silk designs.
