GENET-news articles on GE silk

2012-09-26 |

U.S. Department of Agriculture fines University of Wyoming USD8,571 for kid GE goat neglect

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has fined the University of Wyoming more than $8,500 for neglecting some genetically modified kid goats. The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service says the young goats included two that were very thin and one that died of an intestinal parasite. The goats had been genetically engineered for research into producing fibers as strong as spider silk. The federal agency alleged two Animal Welfare Act violations.

2012-09-26 |

U.S. Department of Agriculture fines University of Wyoming USD8,571 for kid GE goat neglect

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has fined the University of Wyoming more than $8,500 for neglecting some genetically modified kid goats. The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service says the young goats included two that were very thin and one that died of an intestinal parasite. The goats had been genetically engineered for research into producing fibers as strong as spider silk. The federal agency alleged two Animal Welfare Act violations.

2012-01-05 |

GE silkworms spin spider silk - A first

“Our hope was that by embedding spider-silk protein [gene] sequences within silkworm silk [gene] sequences, we could get those proteins to co-assemble ... into composite fibers, and that is what happened,” said study co-author Don Jarvis, a molecular biologist at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. [...] The fiber is being commercialized by textile manufacturer Kraig Biocraft. (Lewis, Jarvis, and co-author Malcolm Fraser sit on Kraig’s scientific board.) “We’re not looking at bulletproof vests,” Lewis said. “We’re looking at artificial limbs, tendons, parachutes, and landing lines on aircraft carriers—[situations] where we need elasticity and strength.”

2011-08-23 |

Dutch artist creates 'bulletproof' skin with GE spider silk

A small sample of human skin has been bio-engineered to include spider’s silk between its layers. The Netherlands Forensics Institute has test-fired low-speed rifle bullets at it, and shown that it halts them. This summer, a very unusual science project is on display at a museum in Leiden, southwest of Amsterdam. There’s a piece of human skin that’s been genetically combined to grow in conjunction with spider silk. This unique combination makes the skin bulletproof against a .22 caliber rifle - the standard for a Type 1 bulletproof vest.

2011-08-15 |

Genetically-engineered spider silk suggested for human gene therapy

Genetically engineered spider silk could help overcome a major barrier to the use of gene therapy in everyday medicine, according to a new study that reported development and successful initial laboratory tests of such a material. [...] The lack of good gene delivery systems is a main reason why there are no FDA-approved gene therapies, despite almost 1,500 clinical trials since 1989. The new study focused on one promising prospect, silk proteins, which are biocompatible and have been used in everyday medicine and medical research for decades.

2010-11-02 |

Transgenic worms make tough fibers

Researchers have been trying to make artificial spider silk for decades. Now a startup claims to have overcome one of the main challenges in synthesizing the lightweight, stronger-than-steel fibers. Kraig Biocraft Laboratories has made genetically modified silkworms that produce fibers incorporating spider-silk proteins. The resulting fibers are much stronger, more flexible, and finer than silk made by normal silkworms.

2010-10-01 |

Researchers: GE silkworms make artificial spider silk

Biologists have inserted spider genes into silkworms, allowing them to produce strong, elastic threads that may be used to make sutures and wound-healing bandages as well as bulletproof vests and lightweight fabrics, researchers said Wednesday. [...] ”It’s very difficult to get spiders to make a whole lot of silk. They usually don’t make very large quantities,” Fraser said at a news conference at Notre Dame. ”For the first time it’s possible to make spider silk commercially usable.”

2010-05-31 |

GE goats produce silk in their milk: study

With his research team, molecular biology professor Randy Lewis has successfully implanted a herd of goats with the silk-making gene proteins from a golden orb spider. [...] Lewis first began exploring the possibility of harvesting spider silk from goat’s milk in talks with now-defunct Quebec company Nexia Biotechnologies.

2010-02-04 |

Australian researchers created artificial honey bee silk in GE bacteria

Australian researchers for the first time created artificially produced honey bee silk using genetically modified bacteria. Australian entomologist Tara D. Sutherland [...] says, ”The silks would be good for tough, lightweight textiles, and high-strength applications like advanced aviation and marine composites”.

2007-05-15 |

Silkworms spin a rainbow - for now in yellow

Why take all the trouble to dye silk when silkworms can be genetically modified to spin any colour of the rainbow? [...] For starters, the researchers have produced silkworms that make yellow silk. But they say that in the future, the worms could be manipulated to produce flesh-coloured or reddish silk.

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