{"id":22554,"date":"2014-09-19T03:09:37","date_gmt":"2014-09-19T01:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=22554"},"modified":"2014-09-18T16:12:47","modified_gmt":"2014-09-18T14:12:47","slug":"synthetic-spider-silk-lab-awarded-1-9m-energy-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/synthetic-spider-silk-lab-awarded-1-9m-energy-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Synthetic spider silk lab awarded $1.9M in energy funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can Utah State University-developed synthetic spider silk fibers transform the next generation of cars and trucks into lighter, more energy-efficient vehicles?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the challenge USU researcher Randy Lewis will explore over the next two years with partners from the University of California, Riverside and Tennessee\u2019s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The USU-led team, awarded $1.9 million in funding, is one of 14 projects selected nationally for a U.S. Department of Energy program aimed at exploring environmentally friendly highway transportation technologies to help reduce the nation\u2019s petroleum use. DOE secretary Ernest Moniz announced the awards Aug. 21, 2014.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at two things: \u2018Does it make sense to use spider silk fibers in place of carbon fibers in composites used in vehicles?\u2019 and \u2018Does it work to use spider silk fibers in current manufacturing processes?\u2019\u201d says Lewis, director of the university\u2019s USTAR-initiated synthetic spider silk research lab.<\/p>\n

While composites made from carbon fibers are lightweight, strong and a technological step ahead of sheet metals, they\u2019re stiff and crack when bent.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike synthetic spider silk fibers, carbon fibers offer little elongation or flex,\u201d says Lewis, professor in USU\u2019s Department of Biology. \u201cVehicle side panels made from composites using spider silk would be light, strong and flexible. They\u2019d be more damage-resistant, while promoting greater fuel efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project reunites Lewis with former student Cheryl Hayashi, MacArthur Fellow and professor at UC Riverside, who, as part of the DOE-funded effort, will explore use of protein genes from spider species beyond those used in the Lewis Lab.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve used genes from orb-weaver spiders, but Cheryl will investigate other species to determine if their silk properties could improve our fibers,\u201d Lewis says.<\/p>\n

The project will be among the first to take advantage of USU\u2019s nearly completed bioproducts scale-up facility on Innovation Campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor this kind of effort, we need commercial-scale quantities of silk for testing,\u201d Lewis says.<\/p>\n

In addition, the DOE award provides funding for two postdoctoral researchers, two graduate students and four undergraduate researchers.<\/p>\n

The project will use synthetic silk produced from transgenic bacteria grown in the USU lab. Lewis and his team have also manufactured silk from transgenic alfalfa and silkworms, as well as milk from transgenic goats.<\/p>\n

Lewis is featured speaker for the USU Office of Research and Graduate Studies\u2019 Sunrise Session, \u201cSpider Silk: Not Just Fibers Anymore<\/a>,\u201d Sept. 17, in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can Utah State University-developed synthetic spider silk fibers transform the next generation of cars and trucks into lighter, more energy-efficient vehicles? That\u2019s the challenge USU researcher Randy Lewis will explore over the next two years with partners from the University of California, Riverside and Tennessee\u2019s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The USU-led team, awarded $1.9 million […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[],"supplier":[2437,7812,8028,8026],"class_list":["post-22554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","supplier-oak-ridge-national-laboratory","supplier-university-california-riverside","supplier-usu-college-science","supplier-utah-state-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22554\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22554"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=22554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}