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Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering
Expression Systems For Synthetic Spider Silk Protein Production, Michaela R. Hugie
Expression Systems For Synthetic Spider Silk Protein Production, Michaela R. Hugie
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023
Spider silk is a biodegradable and biocompatible natural material that is stronger than steel and more elastic than nylon. These properties make spider silk a desirable material for many commercial products, ranging from textiles to biomedical materials. Due to spiders’ cannibalistic and territorial nature it is impossible to farm them to produce spider silk at a high enough yield to meet product demands. Therefore, a bioengineered synthetic process is necessary to produce spider silk. Synthetic spider silk has been produced in bacteria, goats, yeast, plants, mammalian cells and silkworms, but none of these processes provided a commercially viable yield or …
Development And Characterization Of Aqueous-Based Recombinant Spider Silk Protein Biomaterials With Investigations Into Potential Applications, Thomas I. Harris
Development And Characterization Of Aqueous-Based Recombinant Spider Silk Protein Biomaterials With Investigations Into Potential Applications, Thomas I. Harris
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023
Spider silks are incredible natural materials that possess desirable combinations of strength, elasticity, weight, and robustness. Other properties such as biocompatibility and biodegradability further increase the worth of these materials. The possibility of farming spiders is impractical due to spiders’ natural behaviors. Modern biotechnologies have allowed for recombinant spider silk proteins (rSSps) to be produced without the use of spiders. However, the features responsible for spider silks impressive properties can cause difficulties with producing silk materials. A recently developed water-based and biomimetic solvation method has provided a solution to such difficulties and has also led to novel silk biomaterials. Most …
Novel Methods To Produce Large Recombinant Spider Silk Proteins Via Polymerization, Nathan L. Hebert
Novel Methods To Produce Large Recombinant Spider Silk Proteins Via Polymerization, Nathan L. Hebert
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023
Spider silk has long been a subject of scientific research due to its remarkable mechanical properties. Until recently, there has been no way to effectively obtain spider silk except by harvesting it from individual spiders. With advances in technology, the genes that code for the individual spider silk proteins have been isolated and genetically engineered into other hosts to produce recombinant spider silk proteins (rSSp) of varying sizes, Larger rSSp have correspondingly greater mechanical properties in any resulting materials. Using current production methods, larger rSSp cannot be produced in commercially viable quantities while simultaneously being economically viable. The current production …
Metabolic Modeling Of Spider Silk Production In E. Coli, Sarah Allred
Metabolic Modeling Of Spider Silk Production In E. Coli, Sarah Allred
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023
Spider silk has the potential to be a useful biomaterial due to its high tensile strength and elasticity. It is also biocompatible and biodegradable, making it useful for wound dressings and sutures, tissue and bone scaffolds, vessels for drug delivery, and ligament and tendon replacements. In some studies where spider silk has been used to grow cells, the silk has promoted more cell growth than the control. However, it is difficult to obtain the high volume of silk needed for these undertakings on a large scale. Spiders are territorial and cannibalistic, so they cannot be easily farmed. Therefore, spider silk …