ANN ARBOR, Mich. — May 30, 2019 — Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Inc., a developer of spider silk based fibers, announced today the creation of the next generation of recombinant spider silk using the company’s new design, gene editing, and incorporation approaches. Kraig Labs designed this approach to customize mechanical properties for specific commercial markets and has demonstrated the ability to more quickly, accurately, and efficiently, generate new transgenics.
This is the material science breakthrough that the company has been pushing for since establishing the Dragon Silk line; this new transgenic was specifically engineered for high strength and significantly higher protein expression levels. This achievement marks a significant milestone in Kraig Labs’ mission to produce and commercialize eco-friendly materials that exceed the performance and strength of native spider silk.
“This breakthrough has powerful ramifications that affect the core of how we develop future spider silk materials,” said COO Jon Rice. “These newly confirmed transgenics mark a revolutionary advancement in capability of our spider silk materials. The new tools developed by Dr. Trevor Kane and our research team will allow us to target commercial markets that were not originally on our radar.”
Screening of these samples confirms that the gene edit was successful, validating the underlying protocols and genetic constructs. Furthermore, western blot analysis, performed on the silk, confirms expression of this new and potentially much more powerful spider silk protein. These results open the door for the Company to deploy this new methodology towards a variety of tailored spider silk designs. Kraig Labs expects these new recombinant spider silk fiber lines will open up broader commercial opportunities and complement the Company’s existing Monster Silk™ and Dragon Silk™ technologies.
June 4, 2019
Source: Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Inc.