WISS: Why Is Silk Spun? Integrating bio-rheology with advanced spectroscopic techniques
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Zoology
Abstract
Silk's individuality as a biological material is established before it even becomes a fibre. Quite unlike any other biopolymer, silk is not grown slowly over months and years like hair bone and feathers, but produced in a matter of seconds through the act of spinning. Whilst this approach is unique in the natural world, it is familiar territory to man, thus making silk highly relevant as a model biopolymer; it is fabricated in a familiar solvent-spinning process, which in turn is accessible to laboratory investigation. Hence we now have the background and means to ask; given that Nature already had existing mechanisms for nano-scale deposition of materials, why was a fundamentally new biofabrication process evolved, how does it work and what can we learn from it? The proposed study sets out to investigate why silk proteins are unique amongst biological materials in having been optimised for flow processing (i.e. spinning). The proposed work will build on previous work on silk protein structures in solution but will introduce novel integrated rheo-spectroscopic tools to study these systems dynamically. Specifically our research aims to: (i) develop, refine and extend our bulk rheological measurements on silk proteins; (ii) spectroscopically determine silk protein structural changes under flow; (iii) observe silk protein denaturation and aggregation kinetics under flow and the development of multiscale hierarchical structures and - importantly - (iv) offer multidisciplinary training for a D.phil student at the interface of the physical and the life sciences.This project offers the unparalleled opportunity to understand the origins of a novel bioprocessing technology that has direct implications for our own industrial production of polymers that are environmentally benign and will operate in a wide range of different conditions and applications with exceptional properties. The outcome of this research will challenge our understanding of why proteins fold and aggregate, addressing questions from evolutionary biology to soft condensed matter physics.
Organisations
- University of Oxford (Lead Research Organisation)
- European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (Collaboration)
- Malvern Instruments (Collaboration)
- University of Ghent (Collaboration)
- Waters (United Kingdom) (Collaboration)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (United Kingdom) (Collaboration)
- DIAMOND LIGHT SOURCE (Collaboration)
- University of Laval (Collaboration)
People |
ORCID iD |
Fritz Vollrath (Principal Investigator) | |
Ann Terry (Co-Investigator) |
Publications
Boulet-Audet M
(2014)
Silk protein aggregation kinetics revealed by Rheo-IR.
in Acta biomaterialia
Greving I
(2020)
Structural Diversity of Native Major Ampullate, Minor Ampullate, Cylindriform, and Flagelliform Silk Proteins in Solution.
in Biomacromolecules
Boulet-Audet M
(2016)
Dry-Spun Silk Produces Native-Like Fibroin Solutions.
in Biomacromolecules
Boulet-Audet M
(2011)
Rheo-attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy: a new tool to study biopolymers.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
Kingdon J
(2012)
A poisonous surprise under the coat of the African crested rat.
in Proceedings. Biological sciences
Vollrath F
(2014)
Differential Scanning Fluorimetry provides high throughput data on silk protein transitions.
in Scientific reports
Boulet-Audet M
(2015)
Identification and classification of silks using infrared spectroscopy.
in The Journal of experimental biology
Boulet-Audet M
(2010)
Quantitative determination of band distortions in diamond attenuated total reflectance infrared spectra.
in The journal of physical chemistry. B
Stephen Broadberry (Author)
(2011)
The African crested rat poisonous hairs studied by attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy.
Maxime Boulet-Audet (Author)
(2013)
The African crested rat's poisonous hairs studied by attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy
Description | Alexander Graham Bell Doctorate Scholarship |
Amount | £63,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | Canada |
Start |
Description | Alexander Graham Bell Doctorate Scholarship |
Amount | £63,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | Canada |
Start |
Description | Beamtime with Diamond (UK) & ESRF (France) |
Organisation | Diamond Light Source |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Collaboration work with the following Beamtime participants; Diamond (UK) using I22 SAXS. Date:16/10/2009 - 4 Days in total. ESRF (France) using BM26 SAXS. Date: 05/04/2010 - 5 Days in total. |
Description | Beamtime with Diamond (UK) & ESRF (France) |
Organisation | European Synchrotron Radiation Facility |
Country | France |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Collaboration work with the following Beamtime participants; Diamond (UK) using I22 SAXS. Date:16/10/2009 - 4 Days in total. ESRF (France) using BM26 SAXS. Date: 05/04/2010 - 5 Days in total. |
Description | Collaborations with Industry |
Organisation | Malvern Instruments |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Interaction and collaboration with UK Rheology/Thermal Analysis/Spectroscopy companies as follows; TA Instruments - Rheometer Pilot Studies: 14/12/2010 Malvern Instruments - 2 x Lab Visit, 1 x site visit and presentation about combined Rheology ATR technique. Thermo-Fisher - Lab visit to discuss Spectroscopic techniques. |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | Collaborations with Industry |
Organisation | T A Instruments Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Interaction and collaboration with UK Rheology/Thermal Analysis/Spectroscopy companies as follows; TA Instruments - Rheometer Pilot Studies: 14/12/2010 Malvern Instruments - 2 x Lab Visit, 1 x site visit and presentation about combined Rheology ATR technique. Thermo-Fisher - Lab visit to discuss Spectroscopic techniques. |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | Collaborations with Industry |
Organisation | Thermo Fisher Scientific |
Country | United States |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Interaction and collaboration with UK Rheology/Thermal Analysis/Spectroscopy companies as follows; TA Instruments - Rheometer Pilot Studies: 14/12/2010 Malvern Instruments - 2 x Lab Visit, 1 x site visit and presentation about combined Rheology ATR technique. Thermo-Fisher - Lab visit to discuss Spectroscopic techniques. |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | Heterogenities in silk |
Organisation | University of Laval |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Heterogeneities in silk |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | Study of silk by SAXS |
Organisation | European Synchrotron Radiation Facility |
Country | France |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Study of silk by SAXS |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | Study of silk by SAXS |
Organisation | University of Ghent |
Country | Belgium |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Study of silk by SAXS |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | Scientists meet the Media Party |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | A bringing together of Scientists from a wide range of disciplines and Scientific and Arts Journalists. By raising awareness of the remarkable properties of silk the aim was for this knowledge and understanding to ultimately reach the public domain through the Media vehicle. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
Description | Users Public Engagement symposium of the STFC |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Public Engagement Symposium. Bringing Science and Research into the Public Domain. To increase the public awareness of the importance of silk as an environmentally friendly high performance polymer that could extend into many new application areas in the future. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |