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Spider silk has enormous potential in regenerative medicine thanks to being a natural fiber that is tough, stable, and biodegradable. Researchers have now produced double-sided spider silk fibers, which could provide damaged nerve or muscle cells with a platform for growth. As the researchers report in the journal Angewandte Chemie, one side of the fibers is suitable for cell adhesion, while the other side could be used to attach factors or other substances.
Spider silk is nontoxic, biocompatible, and attracts virtually no microbes. These properties make it an ideal candidate as a supporting medium for nerve cells to grow along. However, in spider silk’s original form, this process can take a very long time and requires complicated preparative steps. With this in mind, materials scientist Thomas Scheibel from the University of Bayreuth, Germany, along with his team, optimized the natural product in more than one way simultaneously, using a biotechnological approach.
Scheibel’s team produced spider silk using a genetically modified microorganism. “This gives us advantages in terms of quality,“ Scheibel explains, “and makes it possible to modify the proteins”. The team not only modified one spider silk protein, but produced Janus spider silk fibers containing two differently optimized proteins in one material.
Janus fibers get their name from the famous Roman god thanks to their two “faces“ or sides. One side of the fibers was formed from a spider silk protein in which the team substituted a single amino acid. This reversed the net charge (from negative to positive) of the protein: “the surface of the material then becomes more attractive to cells,” explains Scheibel.
The other side of the fibers was formed from a spider silk protein to which the team added the amino acid cysteine. The addition of cysteine makes it possible to employ “click chemistry“, a method for functionalizing materials in which the reaction partners react so easily with one another that it is as if they have been simply “clicked“ together.
The team produced a two-sided, water-soluble fibrous material by using side-by-side electrospinning, which involves drawing out a thread from a protein solution in an electrical field. Post-treatment produced the Janus spider silk fibers as a crystalline, insoluble material. The fiber was then specifically coated on one side with gold nanoparticles using click chemistry, which made the spider silk electrically conductive, allowing the success of the modification to be directly measured.
Janus spider silk fibers coated with gold nanoparticles could be used to stimulate the growth of muscle cells. “Muscles are excited by electrical impulses, which could be produced using a ‘gold wire’ made of spider silk fibers,“ Scheibel explains. However, other modifications could be even more promising; the researchers are also investigating attachment of growth factors using click chemistry. These would not only promote cell adherence to the surface but also targeted and quicker growth of nerve cells along a splint.
New study on optimizing microbial fuel cells shows electrode material can make all the difference
At present, microbial fuel cells are mainly used in research laboratories to generate electricity. In order for industrial applications to be considered in the future, the fuel cells must be further developed so that they can produce consistently higher amounts of electricity than is curren ... more
A new peptide system for the targeted transport of molecules into living mammalian cells
A novel peptide developed at the Universities of Bayreuth and Bristol is eminently suited for the targeted transport of molecules, for example of active substances and dyes, into the cells of mammals. The peptide is characterized by a dual function: It can enter the cell from the outside an ... more
New spectroscopic insights into hydrogen bonds
Hydrogen bonds are of fundamental interest in materials science, physics and chemistry. An international team including scientists from the University of Bayreuth has now achieved surprising insights into the formation of hydrogen bonds using a novel method that enables the application of N ... more
Authentic food is growing in popularity with consumers. In a heavily industrialized market, a regional, single-source and/or specially manufactured product is increasingly becoming a guarantor of greater value. In the premium segment in particular, economically motivated “food fraud” can re ... more
For thousands of years, the word “honey” has been synonymous with an all-natural, healthy food. Unsurprisingly, honey has also enjoyed unwavering popularity with consumers – and especially in times when organic food and a healthy lifestyle are more in vogue than ever before. more
What ends up on our plates? We used to think we knew – until we were disabused of this notion in early 2013. Instead of beef, there had been large-scale use of processed horsemeat, especially in frozen products and mincemeat. Although this posed no hazard to health, the damage was enormous, ... more
completed his undergraduate studies in biochemistry at the University of Bayreuth from 2009 to 2013. He completed his bachelor’s dissertation entitled “Honey Analysis Using NMR” at the BIOmac research centre under the tutelage of Prof. Dr. Schwarzinger. more
commenced his undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering at TU Dresden before moving to the University of Bayreuth in 2009 to study biology. In 2013, he completed his bachelor dissertation in the Dept. of Biochemistry under the tutelage of Prof. Dr. Wulf Blankenfeldt on the subject of ... more
Stephan Clemens, Jg. 1963, studied biology in Münster and Brighton, then acquired his doctorate in Münster. Since his postdoc-stay at the University of California San Diego, his scientific interest has been mainly targeted at metal homoeostasis in plants. He uses the models Arabidopsis thal ... more
Long-Lasting, Intense Afterglow
A team of researchers from Lithuania has developed organic dyes showing a particularly long afterglow after being excited by light. Doping a polymer with newly synthesized diboraanthracene dyes resulted in an intense red or blue–green dual afterglow, which was composed of persistent thermal ... more
Naturally occurring chemical reactions may have evolved into the biochemical processes we know today. A team of researchers has now discovered that a reaction sequence from the so-called reverse Krebs cycle—a fundamental biochemical process—can also take place without enzymes. The team writ ... more
Nanocrystals Store Light Energy and Drive Chemical Reactions
Chemistry is increasingly making use of the trick plants can do with photosynthesis: driving chemical reactions that run poorly or do not occur spontaneously at all with light energy. This requires suitable photocatalysts that capture light energy and make it available for the reaction. In ... more
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