Scientists have successfully developed a device that can produce artificial spider silk that closely resembles the natural silk produced by spiders. The artificial silk gland was able to replicate the intricate molecular structure of silk by imitating the various chemical and physical changes that occur in a spider’s silk gland.
Spider silk is renowned for its strength, flexibility, and lightness. It has a tensile strength comparable to steel of the same diameter and an unparalleled strength-to-weight ratio. Additionally, it is biocompatible and biodegradable, making it suitable for medical applications. However, large-scale harvesting of silk from spiders is impractical, leading scientists to seek ways to produce it in the laboratory.
Spider silk is a biopolymer fiber composed of large proteins with highly repetitive sequences known as spidroins. The silk fibers contain molecular substructures called beta sheets, which must be properly aligned to exhibit their unique mechanical properties. Replicating this complex molecular architecture has been a challenge for scientists. Instead of starting from scratch, RIKEN scientists adopted a biomimicry approach.
Numata explains, “In this study, we attempted to mimic natural spider silk production using microfluidics, which involves the flow and manipulation of small amounts of fluids through narrow channels. Indeed, one could say that the spider’s silk gland functions as a sort of natural microfluidic device.”
The researchers’ device resembles a small rectangular box with tiny grooved channels. A precursor spidroin solution is placed at one end and then drawn towards the other end using negative pressure.
2024-01-23 05:41:03
Article from phys.org