Chimeric materials

Bioengineers at

have created a new fusion protein that for the first time combines the toughness of spider silk with the intricate structure of silica. The resulting nanocomposite could be used in medical and industrial applications, such as growing bone tissue.

“This is a novel genetic engineering strategy to design and develop new ‘chimeric’ materials by combining two of nature’s most remarkable materials -- spider silk and diatom glassy skeletons – that normally are not found together,” said David L. Kaplan, professor and chair of biomedical engineering and director of Tufts’ Bioengineering and Biotechnology Center.

Kaplan, along with his Tufts graduate students and collaborators Carol C. Perry from Nottingham Trent University in England and Rajesh Naik from the US Air Force Research Laboratory, released their findings in the paper “Novel Nanocomposites from Spider Silk-Silica Fusion (Chimeric) Proteins” published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences