Study shows spider silk bioproduction presents opportunities and challenges

Today, entrepreneurship is everywhere, including science. Engineers and scientists often apply their research to a product or service and use it to launch a startup. The world of bioproduction—using living cells and organisms to manufacture products—is fertile ground for entrepreneurship.

Biomaterials are a critical component to pharmaceutical and vaccine production and are also used in industries ranging from packaging and textiles to agriculture and food production.

Spider silk, long prized for its strength and elasticity, has created something of a furor in the biomanufacturing world as businesses look for ways to cheaply scale up production of silks, which can be used in everything from tactical gear to sutures and textiles.

However, a comprehensive study conducted by a team of students from around the country, including University of California San Diego’s Ghita Guessous, shows that there are many challenges facing the spider silk industry. The paper, whose authors are all students, was published in ACS Biomaterials and Engineering.

The team—which worked together cohesively despite never meeting in person—originally came together through a nonprofit called Nucleate, a global organization seeking to make biotech education available to all by providing open-access programming, events and resources. Several members were interested in researching innovation trends in biotech and spider silk production piqued their interest.

“Our approach, combining resources from academic literature, patents, market data and experts, allowed us to paint an informed picture, rooted in data, and far from the hype cycles the industry has seen,” stated first author Guessous, who graduated last spring with a Ph.D. in physics.

Reviewing the academic literature involved combing through hundreds of papers in microbiology, genetics and materials science to find relevant information that could be synthesized into the case study. Similarly, they reviewed reams of market data to see how startups in this space had fared over the years.

Keeping entrepreneurship in mind, the team also looked at patents, which contain tremendous amounts of scientific information. Surprisingly, they found over 2,400 patents related to spider silk manufacturing.

The team also contacted experts in the field, who were not just scientists, but industry experts as well—those that worked in large, well-established organizations and startups, as well as venture capitalists who have invested in these companies.

“When we first started this research, there was a lot of excitement about how spider silk production would be the next big thing,” stated Anthony Bui, a co-author on the study who recently graduated from Cornell University with a Ph.D. in microbiology. “However, in talking with a variety of people embedded in this space, we got a much more sobering outlook.”

Spinning at scale

One of the biggest challenges in spider silk production is how to produce it at scale, because, as it turns out, spiders are very territorial and cannibalistic, making large spider farms problematic (and terrifying).

To combat this, scientists have turned to genetically modifying other living organisms to carry the silk-producing gene—a process called heterologous expression. Some scientists have even spliced spider-silk genes into goats who produce the silk in their milk. Others are looking at alfalfa, silkworms, yeast and even bacteria as possible producers, although the silk can be toxic to its hosts. Reducing this toxicity remains an active area of research.

One of the goals of the study was to highlight the pros and cons of potential host organisms, finding the sweet spot between quality and cost. Ultimately, the path forward may be following in the footsteps of another industry.

“Similar to how the pharmaceutical world has largely transitioned to using unicellular organisms that are culturable in the lab and in large bioreactors, many have converged toward using microbes and bacteria to produce spider silk,” stated Guessous.

Although it may have been discouraging at first, the team says uncovering these challenges underscored the purpose of their case study: to highlight all of the white spaces where academic research could contribute to solving some of the outstanding problems the industry is facing.

The final part of the paper discussed potential applications and the tradeoffs to consider when entering a particular market. The most obvious market is fashion, where silk from silkworms is already widely used; however, it is notoriously hard for new textiles to breach an industry where polyester, plastic and other materials can be made so cheaply. Even in luxury fashion, where silk is a staple, spider silk is, at this stage, much more expensive to produce.

A more likely venture is using spider silk in high-performance materials where lightweight durability is a priority—everything from bulletproof vests to car panels. Spider silk may also make its way into your shampoo bottle or body lotion, providing coveted shine and smoothness.

Working on this case study has been eye-opening, although the team is not completely deterred from working in the biomanufacturing space in the future.

“I went in super excited, but after learning about all the challenges, I would say I’m feeling a little bit more conservative now,” stated Bui. “Still optimistic, but more cautious.”

“I feel the same,” agreed Guessous.

“What I learned is that it is important to consider the potential for scalability of any product ahead of launching into such ventures. Our study provides a model for the kinds of insights that can inform both academic research programs and entrepreneurial decisions. Hopefully, it will be a useful resource for anyone brave enough to launch the next revolutionary startup.”