Nucleate’s Post

Check out our first-of-its-kind article on spider silk bioproduction which has been published in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering. 🕷️ The review, titled "Disentangling the Web: An Interdisciplinary Review on the Potential and Feasibility of Spider Silk Bioproduction," showcases the collaborative efforts of Nucleate students from UC San Diego, Cornell University, Tufts University, and Boston University. 🤝 Here are a few highlights from the review: 🔹The low density to tensile strength ratio of spider silk makes it a uniquely high-performing material. 🔹Over the last few decades, advances in sequencing, genetic engineering, and molecular cloning have enabled more efficient spider silk production and improvements in mechanical properties. These advances have led to a spike in startup creation, fundraising, and published patents over the last two decades. 🔹A range of host organisms have been employed for the heterologous production of spider silk. Bacteria, goats and even alfalfa plants are only a few examples of production hosts, each offering unique benefits and drawbacks. 🔹While many companies have gone after the textiles markets, spider silk has great potential in niche, high-value markets such as biomedicine and cosmetics. 🔹To biomanufacture spider silk that is commercially viable, greater collaboration between academia, government, and industry is necessary The corresponding author is Ghita Guessous (2024 Biophysics PhD graduate from UC San Diego). Co-authors include VP of Research Innovation Initiative, Anthony Bui (2024 Biochemistry PhD graduate, Cornell University), Lauren Blake, PhD (BME post-doctoral researcher at Tufts University) and Yelim Woo (2024 MBA graduate, Boston University). Executive VP of Research, Gabriel Manzanarez, (quantitative Biology PhD graduate, UC San Diego), who is also a co-author, spearheaded the Innovation program, defining its vision and scope. Samantha Sison, cofounder of the Research Initiative and former co-President of Nucleate, helped guide the review's structure and vision. Soufiane Aboulhouda, Nucleate’s co-founder, made this report possible with his founding vision for the Research Initiative. The academic review, unique in its methodology and style, also involved interviews with several Key Opinion Leaders in the spider silk field, including Dr. David Kaplan, Dr. Lindsay Wray, PhD, Dr. keiji numata, Dr. A. Sydney Gladman, Keiya MASUNO, Hiroyuki Nakamura, Shinya Murata, Roberto ' Velozzi, Dr. Mattheos Koffas, and Dr. Ethan Mirsky. 📄You can read the full, open-access, review here: https://lnkd.in/gBtqUvHK 📰See our press-release here: https://lnkd.in/g8JSXCc7