Artificial spider silk: A comprehensive modeling and applied study of the production of spider silk

Spider silk is believed to be the answer to the currently used environmentally detrimental materials such as elastane and carbon fiber. This is due to the exceptional properties of spider silk such as strength and elasticity, while also being made entirely of proteins and lipids making it an environmentally friendly and recyclable material. But spider silk is not readily available at large amounts, and much research must be done to make high quality artificial spider silk. 

The Villum International Postdoc grant will be used to work at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) with computer simulations to understand the process of spider silk production by simulating the formation of a spider silk fiber as in the spider’s silk gland. This knowledge will be used to then make artificial spider silk at SDU and DTU using a biomimetic inspired microfluidic chip.