Materials scientists have spent decades trying to mimic spider silk. Not only are some of these silks stronger than steel, but they have combinations of properties not found in synthetic fibers like the Kevlar used for bulletproof vests or the petroleum-based polyester found in clothes.
But while several companies have produced artificial silk for small-scale applications, it can’t be widely used to create new kinds of tough, durable, lightweight, petroleum-free materials unless it can be made in very large volumes. A startup called Bolt Threads, in Emeryville, California, might have found a way.
The company was founded by Dan Widmaier and David Breslauer, who have been working on the problem since they were grad students at the University of California, San Francisco, and UC Berkeley in 2007. They use synthetic-biology techniques to engineer proteins that can be spun into fibers with properties they can alter depending on their customers’ needs.
That versatility is crucial. While synthetic fibers made from petroleum tend to be good at one thing, silk can be reëngineered to suit diverse applications. Spiders themselves do this, fine-tuning their silk to make strong structural struts for their webs, sticky spots to capture prey, and a tough line to hang from.
At Bolt Threads, genetically engineered yeast brew silk proteins that can be spun into fibers. The properties of those fibers can be altered by tinkering with the protein concentration and the temperature, tension, and other aspects of the spinning process.
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