Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. is an American biotechnology company headquartered in
Ann Arbor, Michigan. It develops and manufactures
recombinant spider silks and other high-performance
polymer
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part")
is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...
s using
spider silk
Spider silk is a protein fibre spun by spiders. Spiders use their silk to make webs or other structures, which function as sticky nets to catch other animals, or as nests or cocoons to protect their offspring, or to wrap up prey. They can ...
gene sequences.
[ ] Their most notable fiber is
dragon silk which has been demonstrated to be tougher than many fibers used in
bullet proof vests.
History
Kim Kraig Thompson, a retired lawyer, invented the
protein expression platform in 2002, which would become the basis for Kraig Lab's work with spider silk. He founded Kraig Biocraft Laboratories in April 2006 to develop and commercialize spider silks and other high-performance polymers gene and sequences using platform technology in combination with genetic engineering concepts.
The original scientific work to reduce Thompson's invention to practice was performed in the biological laboratories of the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...
. The University of Notre Dame was chosen in large part because the co-inventor of the
PiggyBac transposon system, Malcom Fraser, was in residence there. This transposon was utilized by Kraig Labs and the University of Notre Dame to create the world’s first transgenic silkworm producing recombinant spider silk. This work was subsequently the subject of a peer-reviewed article in the publication of the
National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
In 2011,
Sigma-Aldrich started developing genetically modified silkworms in partnership with Kraig Biocraft Laboratories in order to produce spider silk.
In 2019, the company's wholly owned subsidiary, Prodigy Textiles LLC, established production facility in
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
for the production of spider silk.
Research
The company's production platform is based upon genetic modification of the domesticated silk worm,
Bombyx mori
The domestic silk moth (''Bombyx mori''), is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of ''Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically imp ...
.
In 2020, the firm successfully developed a significantly more advanced technology platform. This utilized a non-
CRISPR gene editing, large
plasmid knock-in knock-out technology. The new platform allows for the creation of essentially pure spider silk. Other than the silkworm’s remaining specifically desired native silk protein elements, Kraig Labs is now able to produce nearly pure spider silk.
The knock-in knock-out technology allows Kraig Labs to work with very complex protein sequences in the silkworms, which are about four times more complex than published technologies. The company's Generation III Spider Silk Technology is purposed for specific customization.
Kraig Labs originally used the
PiggyBac Transposon plasmid vector that was developed in collaboration with the University of Notre Dame.
In all methods, specific sequences of spider DNA are inserted into the genetic makeup of the silkworm to create a silkworm that produces spider silk. That transgenic silkworm is then used as the basis for establishing a genetic line silkworms that also produce spider silk.
The firm is able to customize the sequences that it inserts into the silkworm, thus giving them the ability to customize the resulting silk thread’s strength, flexibility and possibly other properties.
References
{{reflist
External links
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Achieves Production Goal to Create Nearly Pure Spider SilkKraig Labs claims spider silk breakthroughKraig scales up breeding silkworms for super-strong ‘spider silk’Meet the Transgenic Silkworms That Are Spinning Out Spider SilkSilkworms transformed with chimeric silkworm/spider silk genes spin composite silk fibers with improved mechanical propertiesQuality Fabric Of The Month: Spider Silk — Potential Unleashed , Textile WorldNotre Dame and University of Wyoming scientists genetically engineer silkworms to produce artificial spider silkScientists Compare Rat Genome With Human, MouseMutant Worms Produce Piles of Spider SilkWayback Machine
Biotechnology companies of the United States
Biotechnology companies established in 2006
Companies based in Ann Arbor, Michigan