(188am) Synthetic Spider Silk Fibers for Tissue Engineering Applications

Spider silk is a durable, elastic and biocompatible all natural material that is suitable for a wide range of promising biomaterial applications. An important silk protein produced by orb weaving spiders for their drag line silk is the major ampullate spidroin protein #2. We produce MaSp2 as a recombinant protein using Escherichia coli. In this study we have characterized the surface and biological properties of thin films of the synthetic protein, such as surface structure, wettability, chemical composition, resistance to protein adsorption, and cell ? material interactions. Using peptides of cell binding motifs we are able to modulate cell adhesion and proliferation of mammalian cells on the surface of thin protein films. Next we were able to create synthetically spun fibers by dissolving the protein in hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP). In nature, spider silk fibers are not water-soluble and are capable of withstanding the harsh environmental conditions. The challenge with recombinant silk proteins is that most are soluble in aqueous environments. Our work has characterized the solubility of synthetic fibers in aqueous environments under physiological conditions. The synthetic fibers were also tested for mechanical stress and strain properties after short and long term exposure to aqueous environments.