Spider silk production using a controlled laboratory system

In my project, I will attempt to create a system for producing spider silk that will hopefully provide a better and more reliable method of industrial production. The system I propose will be to dissect out the individual silk glands from the abdomens of orb-weaving species from the Nottingham area and maintain their glands in culture. This ex-vivo system will allow me to more accurately study the mechanisms of cellular silk production. Once this has been achieved I will attempt to create cell lines from the silk glands and use the native protein machinery to produce native silk under laboratory conditions. This system will address the problems faced by previous attempts because it will produce physiologically identical silk dope that will have undergone the exact post processing, packaging, and excretion systems that native silk does. In addition, it will be 100% pure silk dope, removing the need for any costly or time-consuming purification processes. This will allow the dope to be directly spun into fibers moments after its production. By creating an artificial gland using silk gland cells we will hopefully be able to rapidly produce native spider silk on an industrial scale. Using natural amino acid precursors we will be able to produce a natural, carbon neutral, strong, flexible, biopolymer with a low environmental impact.