Spider Man: "Spider Silk" Scientist is New USTAR Researcher at USU

Spider webs are incredibly strong and flexible. It’s no surprise, then, that spider silk proteins may someday form durable artificial ligaments for people who have injured their knees or shoulders.

This research is taking place at Utah State University, under the leadership of a new USTAR professor, Randy Lewis.

Known for his work on spider silk proteins, Lewis has been published in some of the nation's most prestigious scientific journals and has appeared several times on the Discovery Channel. In January 2011, Lewis’s research was featured on NOVA’s four-part series, “Making Stuff: Stronger”—a program that examines emerging technologies that are enhancing material properties.

Six different kinds of silk are produced by orb-web weaving spiders. These silk fibers have very different mechanical properties that are so effective they have changed very little over millions of years. How to synthetically develop these silks is one focus of Lewis’ research.

“Scientists have known since the late 1800s that farming spiders isn’t possible—spiders tend to eat other spiders within the vicinity,” said Lewis, a professor of biology in USU’s College of Science. “To raise spiders and harvest the web isn’t feasible because the different types of silk in the web will be different than the one type you want.”

The secret to producing large quantities of spider silk is to use “factories” designed to manufacture spider silk proteins that are easily scale-able and efficient. Lewis’s factory of choice? Genetically modified goats.

Transgenic goats produce the spider silk protein in their milk. Once it is harvested from the goat’s milk, Lewis and his team are able to spin the proteins into fibers and into useable materials.

Lewis has used other methods to grow the spider silk including E.coli bacteria, transgenic alfalfa and transgenic silk worms.

The possible uses for Lewis’s spider silk are extensive.

“The major efforts for the commercial use of spider silk are for artificial ligaments, tendons and bone repair materials,” said Lewis.

Spider silk is 100 times stronger than natural ligaments and 10 times stronger than natural tendons; it is stronger than Kevlar and more elastic than nylon.

“There are over 100,000 anterior cruciate ligament and 75,000 rotator cuff repair surgeries in the United States each year,” said Lewis. “These repairs cost consumers more than $3 billion yearly.”

Lewis’s work with spider silk as ligament repair is filling a niche that currently doesn’t exist—wholly artificial tendons and ligaments.

“Right now, if you tear a ligament or tendon, the medical procedure is to stitch it up,” said Lewis. “If you are young, it will probably heal. But if you are older, and they stitch the ligament together, it may result in scar tissue—and it can tear again.”

A possible solution is to use spider silk to construct artificial ligaments—a process that could speed up healing and provide the scaffolding for new ligaments to grow.

Other commercial applications for Lewis’s synthetically manufactured spider silk include parachute materials, car airbags, tire cords and a variety of materials for sports clothing and equipment. An avid fly fisherman, Lewis believes that spider silk is an ideal material from which to create fly-fishing tippets.

The impacts of Lewis’s research have wide commercial applications—which, was the reason for the USTAR initiative in the first place.

Lewis is an integral member of the USTAR Synthetic Bio-Manufacturing team at USU. SBC brings together a team of both university researchers and USTAR hires within the College of Engineering and the College of Science to work on projects including the manufacture of bio-crude oil from poultry litter as well as billiverdin from water produced during the extraction of oil from the Uintah Basin in eastern Utah, among others.

“The SBC team is unique in its dedication to a common goal,” said Lewis. “We share a common vision despite our different backgrounds. Everyone is interested in seeing the team succeed.”

“The real key is the emphasis that USU has in the biological sciences and the USTAR support for developing those areas,” Lewis said. “We believe we are bringing expertise in areas that can be used by a number of faculty in a variety of departments.”

Lewis has a long history of success in obtaining external funding for his own research, totaling more than $3.2 million to support work on the structure and function of spider silk proteins. Lewis has attracted the attention of some of the nation’s top funding sources, including NIH, the Air Force, the DOE, NSF and USDA.

Lewis and members of the USU’s Commercial Enterprises team are working on developing partnerships with industry—including Caisson Labs in Logan, Utah, to produce the spider silk proteins in cotton seed. Lewis expects to continue working with Caisson Labs on a number of initiatives, including the transgenic alfalfa project.

In addition to his research, Lewis has received numerous awards and has served on various national boards. He has a bachelor’s in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, and a master’s and doctorate degree in biochemistry from the University of California, San Diego. Prior to his move to USU, Lewis was a professor of molecular biology at University of Wyoming.

“We are pleased Randy is coming to Utah State,” said Vice President for Commercialization and Regional Development Robert Behunin. “Randy’s alignment with USU’s newest USTAR BioInnovations Center, and with the complimentary core of faculty in the colleges of agriculture, science and engineering, will bring significant research, innovation and commercialization opportunities and returns to the university and to the state of Utah.”

The Utah Science Technology and Research initiative (USTAR) is a long-term, state-funded investment to strengthen Utah’s “knowledge economy” and generate high-paying jobs. Funded in March 2006 by the state legislature, USTAR is based on three program areas. The first area involves funding for strategic investments at the University of Utah and Utah State University to recruit world-class researchers. The second area is to build state-of-the-art interdisciplinary facilities at these institutions for the innovation teams. The third program area involves teams that work with companies and entrepreneurs across the state to promote science, innovation and commercialization activities. More information is online or follow USTAR on Twitter. More information about USU USTAR is at its website or follow on Twitter.   

Contact: Randy Lewis, office, 435-797-9291; cell, 307-760-6098, randy.lewis@usu.edu