Spider silk proteins

Basis for new materials

Thomas Scheibel
Lehrstuhl Biomaterialien
Universität Bayreuth
www.fiberlab.de

Spider silk – a protein fiber

Outstanding properties of spider silks are well known for thousands of years

» high tensile strength

» high elasticity

» no inflammation

» no allergic response
Spider silk – a diverse biopolymer

Spider silk fibers: mechanical properties

Römer and Scheibel, Chem. Unserer Zeit 2007, 41, 306

Vendrely and Scheibel, Macromol. Biosci. 2007, 7, 401
Heim et al., Angew. Chem. Int. ed. 2009, 48, 3584
Possible applications for silk-based materials

- vascular wound repair devices

- haemostatic dressings and sutures

- drug delivery systems

- cosmetical products

- technical textiles / protective clothing

- surface / fiber coatings

- etc., etc., etc.

Employing silk proteins for analysis

„ availabilityofthenaturalproteins(e.g.cannibalismofspiders)
problems
„ organizationofgenes

„ analysisofproteincomponents
solution
„ reversetranslationandgene– designformodernbiotechnology

Vendrely and Scheibel, Macromol. Biosci. 2007, 7, 401

Processing technology

Huemmerich et al., Biochemistry 2004, 43, 13604

Vendrely and Scheibel, Macromol. Biosci. 2007, 7, 401

Natural processing of spider silk proteins

What Spiderman should know…

can be biotechno-
logically mimicked
Heim et al., Angew. Chem. Int. ed. 2009, 48, 3584
Analysis of laminar flow and shear forces

Silk assembly in designed microfluidic device

mixing and
laminar flow

analysis

simultaneous phase separation, pH-change and elongational flow

10 µm

Rammensee et a., PNAS 2008, 105, 6590

Biomimetic spinning of spider silk proteins

SEM

Possibleapplicationsintechnicaltextiles,
vascularwoundrepairdevices,andsutures.
Römer and Scheibel, Bionik: Patente aus der Natur,2007, 130
Advanced processing of spider silk proteins

from nature

to new materials

Hardy et al., Polymer 2008, 49, 4309

Films made of biotech silk

H2O permeability
O2 permeability
strength 85% humidity
cm³·1µm/m²/d (23°C)
g·1µm/m²/d (23°C)

silk film 20 MPa 18500 17500

PE 24 MPa 55000 30

PP 33 MPa 70000 55

1400
PET 74 MPa 200
Spieß et al., GIT 2007, 11, 928
Microcapsules made of biotech silk

Microcapsules made of biotech silk

emulsion in toluene

Hermannson et al, Adv. Mater. 2007, 19, 1810

Hermannson et al, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2007, 9, 6442
Microcapsules made of biotech silk

emulsion in toluene transfer into water

10 µm

Hermannson et al, Adv. Mater. 2007, 19, 1810

Hermannson et al, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2007, 9, 6442

Controlled release of encapsulate

Release is triggered by the addition of Proteinase K

light microscopy

fluorescence
microscopy

Hermannson et al, Adv. Mater. 2007, 19, 1810

Microspheres made of biotech silk

Spider silk microsphere formation

Spider silk microspheres can be used for protein and drug

encapsulation.
Lammel et al, ChemSusChem. 2008, 1, 413
Slotta et al, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 4592
Drug encapsulation in silk microspheres
Spidersilkmicrospherescanbeusedforencapsulatingpoorlywatersolublesubstances.

drugrelease

E-carotene release in intestinal

fluids

no E-carotene release in gastric fluids

Zeit[min] in collaboration with

Liebmann et al., Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects, 2008, 331, 126

Acknowledgement
former Lab members
Christian Ackerschott
Simone Hess
Daniel Hümmerich
Lin Römer
Sayam SenGupta
Charlotte Vendrely

TUM
Horst Kessler
Andreas Bausch

LMU
Gerhard Winter

Martin-Luther-Universität Halle
Rainer Rudolph

Universität Sussex, UK
Louise Serpell

and further supporting companies

BayerischesStaatsministeriumfür
Umwelt,GesundheitundVerbraucherschutz
Fibrous proteins for new applications