The great mechanical properties, biocompatibility and biodegradability of silk-based materials make them applicable to the biomedical field. Genetic engineering enables the construction of synthetic equivalents of natural silks. Knowledge about the relationship between the structure and function of silk proteins enables the design of bioengineered silks that can serve as the foundation of new b...

the domesticated silkworm, bombyx mori linn., a lepidopteran molecular model and an important economic insect that are emerging as an ideal molecular genetic resource for solving a broad range of biological problems. the silkworm, b. mori produces massive amount of silk proteins during the final stage of larval development. these proteins are stored in the middle silk gland and they are dischar...

Defects of peripheral nerves still represent a challenge for surgical nerve reconstruction. Recent studies concentrated on replacement by artificial nerve conduits from different synthetic or biological materials. In our study, we describe for the first time the use of spider silk fibres as a new material in nerve tissue engineering. Schwann cells (SC) were cultivated on spider silk fibres. Cel...

Electrospinning for the formation of nanoscale diameter fibers has been explored for high-performance filters and biomaterial scaffolds for vascular grafts or wound dressings. Fibers with nanoscale diameters provide benefits due to high surface area. In the present study we explore electrospinning for protein-based biomaterials to fabricate scaffolds and membranes from regenerated silkworm silk...

Spider silk is a high-performance biomaterial with exceptional mechanical properties and over half a century of research into its mechanics, structure, and biology. Recent research demonstrates that it is a highly variable class of materials that differs across species and individuals in complex and interesting ways. Here, we review recent literature on mechanical variation and evolution in spi...

The outstanding material properties of spider dragline silk fibers have been attributed to two spidroins, major ampullate spidroins 1 and 2 (MaSp1 and MaSp2). Although dragline silk fibers have been treated with different chemical solvents to elucidate the relationship between protein structure and fiber mechanics, there has not been a comprehensive proteomic analysis of the major ampullate (MA...

Number of Papers published in peer-reviewed journals: Number of Papers published in non peer-reviewed journals: Final Report: Rapid Characterization of Spider Silk Genes via Exon Capture Report Title Spider silks are high-performance materials with an array of potential military and civilian applications. As such, there is persistent demand for the mass production of silks, which requires knowl...

Variability in spider major ampullate (MA) silk properties at different scales has proven difficult to determine and remains an obstacle to the development of synthetic fibers mimicking MA silk performance. A multitude of techniques may be used to measure multiscale aspects of silk properties. Here we fed five species of Araneoid spider solutions that either contained protein or were protein de...

Silk spinning is essential to spider ecology and has had a key role in the expansive diversification of spiders. Silk is composed primarily of proteins called spidroins, which are encoded by a multi-gene family. Spidroins have been studied extensively in the derived clade, Orbiculariae (orb-weavers), from the suborder Araneomorphae ('true spiders'). Orbicularians produce a suite of different si...

Background: Tonsillectomy is a commonly performed surgical procedure. There are several operative methods but the superiority of one over the other has not been clearly demonstrated. The aim of this study was to compare the morbidity associated with tonsillectomy using two different techniques for hemostasis – silk ligation versus diathermy. Material and Methods: This was an experimental study ...