We Know Everything...
... About Spiders and Real Spider Silk
Spidey Tek’s Chief Science Officer, Randy Lewis PhD is a worldwide authority on spider silk structure and production. Over his thirty plus years of spider silk research and teaching, Dr. Lewis has published over 80 Peer Reviewed Scientific papers and conducted hundreds of lectures and symposiums on this subject.
Through the marvels of genetic engineering, we have been able to identify all the spider genes that code for the production of spider silk proteins and have placed these spider genes in the leaves of the alfalfa plants to produce our Spider Silk proteins.
These patented methods of generating large commercial quantities of Real Spider Silk proteins to produce endless products and applications are not a dream, they are a fact.
Millions of acres of alfalfa are grown in the Western United States. This makes Spidey Tek’s access to hundreds of tons of Real Spider Silk proteins readily available.
At a net $0.00 cost to Spidey Tek.
The spider silk enhanced alfalfa crops are harvested 8-10 times per year from fields that grow over and over again up to 5 years without replanting.
This is a simplified overview of the Spidey Tek production process.
The harvested alfalfa is sent through a non-polluting, eco-friendly process. The spider silk proteins are separated and purified into a fine, white powder that can be used in hundreds of products, components and applications.
The sale of the by-products created from the spider silk proteins extraction and purification process are sold as animal feed, which in turn pays for the entire cycle from alfalfa to Spider Silk proteins.
Spidey Tek Water Base Technologies
Spidey Tek Medical Coatings
Recombinant spider silks can be formulated in more than just fibers. Coatings that take advantage of the biocompatibility of spider silk can also be produced. The coatings are robust and can be loaded with medicaments.
A-F demonstrates the recombinant spider silks ability to coat intravenous catheters. The catheters can be bent without separating the coating from the catheter.
G-J demonstrate the coatings can be loaded with antimicrobials, which elute from the coating and prevent microbial growth.
The coatings on intravenous catheters can also prevent or slow the deposition of clots onto the surface of the catheter. The Uncoated column shows the various materials in their natural manufactured state. Large clots can be observed on all materials. The Coated column shows the various materials with just the addition of a very thin layer of spider silk. Notice the drastic reduction in clotted material. The Coated with Heparin is a spider silk coated loaded with heparin as a coating. Notice the almost total lack of clot present.
Wet Spinning
At Spidey Tek, we have developed a proprietary wet spinning process to mass produce a spider silk fiber stronger than Carbon Fiber, Steel or Aluminum. See video on the Home page for further explanation.
