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Heres a nice video to go along with that: https://vimeo.com/141831703
Interview of Jon Rice, COO of Kraig Biocraft Laboratories with Fibre2Fashon.com
Published on : 30 Sep 2015
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/face2face/kraig-biocraft-laboratories/jon-rice.asp
Spider silk, a protein fibre produced by spiders, is growing popular in the textile industry because of its strength and elasticity. Jon Rice, Chief Operations Officer (COO) of Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc discusses this emerging industry and its possible applications with Fibre2Fashion.com
How strong is spider silk? How can it benefit the textile industry?
According to Wikipedia, the most commonly reported strength of spider silk is 1.3 gigapascals (GPA). However, each species of spiders is different. Some are stronger than that.
What is most exciting about spider silk is not merely its strength, but the combination of strength and elasticity that no synthetic fibre can match. Technically called toughness, the mix of strength and stretch that spider silk offers has tremendous applications in textiles. While materials like para-aramids offer outstanding strength, they have little ability to stretch and move. Similarly, materials like nylon offer high elasticity, but they are comparatively weak. Spider silk brings these benefits together in a single material, resulting in a strong and flexible fabric.
Which new applications of spider silk are on the anvil for the textile industry?
At Kraig, we're exploring a number of different applications for spider silk textiles, which range from performance and fashionwear to purely functional fabrics for protective applications. There has been a lot of exploration into the different uses of spider silk in textiles over the last several years. The challenge has not been in developing applications, but in the ability to produce enough silk to transition from experimentation to production. Because of our approach in engineering specialty silkworms to produce recombinant spider silk, we believe Kraig is uniquely positioned to address this gap between application ideas and sustainable, cost-effective, full-scale silk production.
Which are the biggest markets for spider silk? Which countries are going to join the bandwagon in the near future?
We see several different application-driven markets that are very exciting to us. I believe there is a significant potential in places like India and Italy for fashionwear. We're noticing considerable interest from the performance fashionwear industry in the United States of America and in Europe. I believe the adoption of spider silk textiles will be driven by demonstrated performance in target market applications, rather than by any specific country or region.
Which innovations in spider silk are most talked about?
At Kraig, we are very excited about our June announcement regarding the creation of our Dragon Silk line. This was the first reported creation of a recombinant spider silk demonstrating higher strength and more flexibility than native spider silk. Dragon Silk points to a very important premise which we at Kraig have long believed in. We believe that creating sustainable spider silk isn't the limit of our gene splicing technology, but only the beginning of what can be achieved. We continue to push for higher performing fibres as well as other applications using our silkworm technology to produce specialty proteins.
Can spider silk serve fashion purposes?
Yes, we believe spider silk has the potential to offer an exclusivity-paired, unmatched material performance that makes it well suited for fashion applications.
Which will be your core areas of focus in the next two years?
Our core focus over the next year will be getting our spider silk technology into end-products marketed to our various target applications. The technology is now robust enough to support what we expect to be a significant demand for our silk. Supporting this growth will be a significant investment, and focus will be on creating a production centre for Kraig silk and our other recombinant proteins. We are already laying the groundwork for this growth, and we hope to be able to announce that progress shortly.
What is the growth percentage that Kraig Laboratories has achieved in the last fiscal? What is the target set for this fiscal?
As of now, Kraig has not been selling products in the market. We would rather work with partners to explore potential applications.
It is good news, but already known if you follow this board.
The article in question was posted back in July by Spillmonkey in his Post #94344.
The author, Kamelia Kountcheva, also happens to have written 2 previous articles over KBLB. One on Dragon Silk™ was posted a week earlier by Money4nuttin in his Post #94022. Another article by her over KBLB and other companies is shown in my Post #93399.
Another writer from WTiN, Jens Kastner, wrote on on KBLB more recently that was posted by Lebbe1 in his Post #96591.
A coouple of other authors from WTiN, Tara Hounslea and David Stevenson, have also posted several articles on KBLB a few years back. Initially, I thought it was strange that they seemed to be focusing a lot of energy on KBLB and seemingly very little on others, but looking closer, I have found similar articles covering Bolt Threads and AMSilk, so it is not entirely one sided.
US and India forge formal technical textiles collaboration
By Seshadri Ramkumar
28 September 2015
http://www.wtin.com/article/2015/september/27915/us-india-bilateral-collaboration-on-technical-textiles/?channelId=1119
Bilateral collaboration and technical exchanges between the US and India in technical textiles are being planned as part of a newly forged strategic and commercial cooperation.
As part of the first US-India strategic and commercial dialogue, held on 22 September in Washington DC, both countries agreed to cooperate in the field of technical textiles among many other initiatives.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker welcomed India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman for the inaugral commercial dialogue.
During the summit a range of strategic initiatives between the two countries in the field of technical textiles were agreed:
- US and India will help with exchanges between US academia and centres of excellence in technical textiles in India. The Indian government has established eight centres for growing the field of technical textiles.
- The two countries will participate in trade expositions related to technical textiles, such as Technotex expo sponsored by the Indian government.
- Both countries will collaborate in standards development for technical textiles products.
- Both countries will address barriers towards technical textile exports between the two.
According to the US Department of Commerce, there are over two million annual visits between the US and India, indicating a need for this strong bilateral cooperation in industry.
Smaller scale bilateral initiatives between the two countries have been evident for over a decade in the field of nonwovens and technical textiles, with platforms such as the international conference Advances in Textiles, Nonwovens and Technical Textiles (ATNT) held in various locations in India aimed at bringing together the industry and academia from both countries.
Industry associations such INDA, TAPPI-NET Division and IFAI have supported these events in addition to helping with awareness creation and promotion of technical textiles in India.
I would be willing to bet that if Vietnam fell through, India would be next on the table. After all, Japan's National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS) is already working with them for research purposes as you had posted a while back in your Post #87225.
Last I heard, they still haven't approved commercial operations and it looks as if NIAS might not actually be working with spider silk at that location as previously thought, but are actually looking to make the Bombyx Mori silkworm immune to the Densovirus instead.
Either way, if they can approve one kind of transgenic silkworm, they should be able to approve another kind fairly easily IMO.
I agree with what you stated. I was using their valuation as a rough measure to what a pre-commercial spider silk facility should be worth. No matter how I look at it, KBLB just looks undervalued at the current pps IMO.
A reverse split will probably be a necessary part of the future of KBLB post-commercialization to attract the investors and traders that you mentioned. By then, the increased sales and income should hopefully maintain investor confidence and keep the pps stable enough to come through the r/s without plunging back into penny land.
Of course, this is all speculation.
You bring up an interesting point. This is a good way to value Spiber Inc. and compare it to KBLB.
The $30 mil over 1.88 million shares is $15.96 a share. The 1.88 million shares is only about 12% of the company, so that puts their assumed value at about $250 million.
KBLB is currently at 3 cents a share over 681,579,159 shares per the last filing leaving only a $20,447,374.77 value. Less than a tenth the value of Spiber Inc.
If we were to have the same value as Spiber Inc., the share price would have to be about 36 cents a share. Of course, this is a pre-commercialization value, so it is likely to go up more after they start selling some silk.
IMO, this shows that KBLB is significantly undervalued and should expect high growth in pps post-commercialization.
Artificial Spider Silk Enters Mass Production for the First Time
Kagan Pittman posted on September 21, 2015
http://www.engineering.com/DesignerEdge/DesignerEdgeArticles/ArticleID/10692/Artificial-Spider-Silk-Enters-Mass-Production-for-the-First-Time.aspx#at_pco=smlwn-1.0&at_si=5600c4e54a175578&at_ab=per-2&at_pos=0&at_tot=1
Recreating spider silk for small scale applications isn’t a new idea, but a California-based company claims to have found a way to mass produce artificial silk, no spiders necessary.
Rather than developing the famously durable silk for things like bulletproof vests, the team at Bolt Threads plans to make a new line of clothing. Uniquely, the company is manufacturing their silk through proteins brewed in yeast.
“We originally studied real spiders’ silk to understand the relationship between the spiders’ DNA and the characteristics of the fibers they make,” reads the company website. “Today’s technology allows us to make those proteins without using spiders — which is a big relief to the arachnophobes among us.”
To recreate the silk, the company first had to genetically engineer their own yeast. After throwing sugar, water and salts into the mix, the silk proteins form during a fermentation process similar to how beer is made.
The liquid silk protein is then turned into a fiber through a wet-spinning process. “The properties of those fibers can be altered by tinkering with the protein concentration and the temperature, tension and other aspects of the spinning process,” the company states.
Afterward, the yeast is destroyed by heat in a sterile facility.
The company is still in the process of refining their fiber solution, so their engineering and manufacturing processes have yet to be finalized.
Why Artificial Spider Silk?
Today, silk isn’t a very popular fabric in clothing, especially for men. So a key issue with Bolt Threads' game plan is to whom they intend to market their product.
“Our fabrics will combine the best qualities of silk, but will look and feel quite different from traditional silk and also be easier to wash and wear,” the company states. Unless they plan on spearheading the newest fashion trend with unique clothing designs made from their artificial thread, success may not come easily.
However, Bolt Threads' emphasis on a more environmentally friendly way of producing clothing may help them cement a following of like-minded consumers.
“…the textile industry is among the dirtiest industries on the planet,” the company’s website reads. “According to the World Bank, 20 percent of water pollution globally results from textile processing. Many of our staff have been in this industry for a long time and we’re driven to produce fabrics that can meet consumers’ needs while minimizing impacts on the environment.”
As of yet, there are plenty of questions still to be answered concerning the process behind their silk’s manufacture, but the company claims a commitment to transparency as their company grows.
With plans to make their clothing line available for commercial release sometime in 2016, more information might be just around the corner.
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Finalist for Three Future Material Awards
ANN ARBOR, Mich., – September 22, 2015 - Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. (OTCQB: KBLB) (“Company”), the leading developer of advanced spider silk based fibers, announced today that the Company was named as a finalist in three categories for Internationale Textilmaschinen Ausstellung’s (“ITMA”) Future Materials Awards 2015.
“I would like to thank ITMA, the world’s largest international textile machinery exhibition, for recognizing our technology and efforts, and congratulate the other finalists for making the shortlist. We are excited to once again be recognized by the ITMA for our technology and our contributions to the industry. I believe that the recognition by the ITMA for the ‘Most innovative small company’, ‘Best innovation, protective textile’, and ‘Best innovation, sustainable textile’ categories is a testament to the continued effort of our team, our technology and our shareholders. We look forward to the announcement of the winners in November,” said Kraig CEO and founder, Kim K. Thompson.
“We are grateful for the recognition by ITMA of our successes and the investments of our team and our shareholders in creating high performance, sustainable, petroleum-free fibers. Our team continues to demonstrate that it is possible to deliver best in class material performance without compromising environmental responsibility. I am honored to be part of this legacy of work and its impact on the textile industry,” said Kraig COO, Jon Rice.
Further ITMA Future Materials Awards 2015 information can be viewed at the following link:www.futurematerialsawards.com
Further ITMA information can be viewed at the following link: www.cematex.com/whatisitma.cfm
Looks like yes
Spinning Synthetic Spider Silk
By Katherine Bourzac | Photographs by RC Rivera on September 21, 2015
http://www.technologyreview.com/photoessay/541361/spinning-synthetic-spider-silk/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150921
A California company may have figured out how to use genetic engineering to make extremely versatile fibers the way spiders can.
Materials scientists have spent decades trying to mimic spider silk. Not only are some of these silks stronger than steel, but they have combinations of properties not found in synthetic fibers like the Kevlar used for bulletproof vests or the petroleum-based polyester found in clothes.
But while several companies have produced artificial silk for small-scale applications, it can’t be widely used to create new kinds of tough, durable, lightweight, petroleum-free materials unless it can be made in very large volumes. A startup called Bolt Threads, in Emeryville, California, might have found a way.
The company was founded by Dan Widmaier and David Breslauer, who have been working on the problem since they were grad students at the University of California, San Francisco, and UC Berkeley in 2007. They use synthetic-biology techniques to engineer proteins that can be spun into fibers with properties they can alter depending on their customers’ needs.
That versatility is crucial. While synthetic fibers made from petroleum tend to be good at one thing, silk can be reëngineered to suit diverse applications. Spiders themselves do this, fine-tuning their silk to make strong structural struts for their webs, sticky spots to capture prey, and a tough line to hang from.
At Bolt Threads, genetically engineered yeast brew silk proteins that can be spun into fibers. The properties of those fibers can be altered by tinkering with the protein concentration and the temperature, tension, and other aspects of the spinning process.
The company says its first products will be in consumer apparel in 2016. Its fibers, which are much finer than natural materials like cotton and stronger than nylon, could lend clothes the best qualities of both natural and artificial fibers: they would be soft and light, while durable enough to toss in the wash repeatedly. However, the company won’t specify which properties it aims to achieve in its early products.
Widmaier and Breslauer do say, however, that clothes are only the beginning—an application that proves the company can manufacture at large volumes. “If we can get it to that scale,” Widmaier says, “we can do anything.”
They are competition. They need to update the Google Maps location to ReVenture Park where they are growing their mulberry trees for their silkworms.
Unifi (UFI) is the textile manufacturer that Bolt Threads is working with.
I would guess Unifi (UFI) based on statements like here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-03/a-bay-area-startup-spins-lab-grown-silk
If the conference call occurs in October, I could see them waiting until after the call to release the newsletter so that they can put the highlights from the call in it.
That would be great if this is the case. I hope it is. Time will tell.
Why can't it be both?
I think at this point, Kim knows that Vietnam is not going to get their horse dust together by the end of the month, so he is announcing this CC in anticipation of it being approved by the end of next month. If it isn’t by then, I would not be surprised if he takes an emergency trip to Vietnam to try to expedite their process, delaying the CC further down the road.
He may be prematurely announcing this CC assuming the Vietnamese laws get passed, but it is really his only move at this point to prevent the pps from slipping further. I believe he would have announced a CC anyway if Vietnam legislators would have got off of their stools and started their lawmaking like Kim expected them to do. Hopefully it works out for the best.
It looks like just a copy of the article Zenaku found in his post 87597 with a few words changed as Bob pointed out with the "Big Crimson".
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Pursuit-and-Development-of-Spider-Silk&id=8881355
It is a quarterly newsletter and the last one came out on 7/20, so I would assume it would be about 3 months later around 10/20.
The article mentions a collabirator, Fritz Vollrath, who is a leading researcher at Oxford Biomaterials. They have been performing physical modifications on silkworms for years to change how they spin their silk to give it different properties for medical applications.
The article also mentions that it was published in a scientific journal last month, but you have to pay if you want to see the whole thing: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.biomac.5b00732
Since then, KBLB has developed stronger fibers with their original fibers at pilot production capacity being supplied to Warwick Mills, a New Hampshire company, to be worked into new materials. He currently has a memorandum of understanding with the government of Vietnam to set up a commercial silkworm facility pending them passing legislature covering the control of GMOs.
I agree that these 5 years has been a significant delay and there will still likely be an even longer wait moving forward as it will take time to set up and breed the silkworms, but progress is being made. In the meantime, other companies are closing in on the lead that KBLB supposedly had, but it is likely that there will be plenty of demand initially, so that should not be too much of an issue IMO.
Grenade/IED shrapnel, high powered rifle rounds, etc.
It never hurts to be even stronger for a similar price without sacrificing mobility.
Despite what that article claims, silk bulletproof vests are not new. They were initially invented by a man named Casimir Zeglen over a century ago (WIKIPEDIA LINK HERE).
Recently, the British Royal Armouries have tested a replica of his vest made based on Casimir's patent to determine if it were actually bulletproof (CLICK HERE). Tests show that it could withstand a pistol shot from guns made in that timeframe. I don't know how this new Thai vest compares, but I imagine that the Thai vest would be stronger with the resin and hydraulic compressing that they are using.
As others have stated, this could be a potential application for KBLB's silk to achieve even more protection than the standard silk.
I don't know, honestly.
My guess is that the time that they were looking into it that the technology just wan't there yet to do any effective gene insertions and that we are just now getting there with the piggyBac, Zinc finger nuclease, and CRISPR/CAS-9 systems.
Since many startups have been recently pursuing this, they may now in fact be waiting for a company to become successful at mass producing the silk or silk proteins economically and try to buy them out as many tend to theorize on this board.
It is likely easier and cheaper for them to let other companies do the legwork of initial production and commercialization, carrying the risk of failure on their back, then buy them out when they have achieved guaranteed success rather than throw a bunch of money at research that may end up being a dead end.
It is difficult to find information on these companies regarding their motives for discontinuing their research into creating Spider Silk.
I admit that I have not put a lot of energy looking into them, but I have been able to find a few patents:
DuPont:
https://www.google.com/patents/EP1712561A1?cl=en
https://www.google.com/patents/WO2001090389A2?cl=en
https://www.google.com/patents/US6268169
It looks like DuPont attempted to produce it using silkworms, plants, and E.coli.
BASF:
https://www.google.com/patents/WO2012025582A2?cl=en
https://www.google.com/patents/WO2008155304A1?cl=en
https://www.google.com/patents/WO2007082923A2?el=en
It looks like BASF was woking with other producers of the proteins and not producing them themselves. They specifically mention in one of their earlier patents the use of transgenic goats. Another more recent patent lists Thomas Scheibel and Daniel Huemmerich, lead scientists at AMSilk, as inventors. I would not be suprised if they were working fairly closely with AMSilk and still playing with their proteins. Unfortunately, they are a German company and I don't know German, so there may be information on them that I have yet to discover.
I don't know if they have stabilized it in that range, but their claim to having 100% spider silk seems to be based on the properties mentioned in the patent.
I dont think they have commercial amounts as of yet, but they have started setting up a sericulture facility complete with mulberry in North Carolina as of last year, so they are gearing up. Assuming it takes 3 years to grow the mulberry and another year to two to grow the silkworms, I would expect them to be commercial in 2018-2019.
If Kim can get his foot in the door in Vietnam before the end of the year and get set up in an already established sericulture facility, he should have plenty of time to beat them to market assuming my estimated timeline is correct.
You are welcome, I am really interested in this subject, so it was information that I had already compiled.
I updated the list of companies with more current and corrected info. You can see them here: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=116383151
Whoops, should have been public.
I think anyone here would know that, but I posted a corrected list that leaves that part out.
Here is the updated & corrected list of companies that I know about:
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. (KBLB)
CEO: Kim Thompson
Location: Lansing, Michigan, USA
Medium Used: Transgenic Silkworms
Initial Target Market: Mundane & Technical Textiles
Website: http://www.kraiglabs.com/
Notes: Commercializing Monster Silk® with Warwick Mills, and developing Big Red, SpiderPillar®, and Dragon Silk™ fibers. Full scale factory in Vietnam planned pending Vietnamese legislation.
Entogenetics, Inc.
CEO: David Brigham
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Medium Used: Transgenic Silkworms
Initial Target Market: ???
Website: http://www.entogenetics.com/
Notes: Received $309,159 contract with US Army to create body armor. Currently growing Mulberry trees locally to scale up their operations.
Spiber, Inc. and Xpiber, Inc.
CEO: Kazuhide Sekiyama
Location: Tsuruoka, Yamagata, Japan
Medium Used: Bacteria (Transgenic E. coli?)
Initial Target Market: Technical Textiles & Automotive
Website: http://www.spiber.jp/en/
Notes: Created QMONOS® fiber dress. Has raised about 2 Billion Yen (~$20 Million). Working with Kojima Industries Inc. Have built 2 Pilot Facilities. Commercialization targeted for 2017 with full scale operations planned by 2025.
Spiber Technologies, AB
CEO: Mats Grahn
Location: Norra Djurgården, Sweden
Medium Used: Transgenic E. coli
Initial Target Market: Medical
Website: http://www.spiber.se/
Notes: Has 5M SEK (~$720,000) contract with VINNOVA to develop wound patch
Araknitek, Inc.
CEO: Randy Lewis
Location: Logan, Utah, USA
Medium Used: Transgenic Goats, E. coli, Silkworms, and Alfalfa
Initial Target Market: ???
Website: http://www.araknitek.com/
Notes: USU received $1.15M in grants from USN and NSF. Recently expanded their laboratory for E.Coli testing.
AMSilk, GmbH
CEO: Jens Klein
Location: Martinsried, Germany
Medium Used: Transgenic E. coli
Initial Target Market: Cosmetics & Medical
Website: http://www.amsilk.com/en/
Notes: Had a commercial run of Spider Silk cosmetics. Developing silicone implant coatings.
Oxford Biomaterials, Ltd.
CEO: Stéphanie Lesage
Location: Oxford, UK
Medium Used: Modified Silkworms
Initial Target Market: Medical
Website: http://www.oxfordbiomaterials.com/
Notes: £100,000 ($165,000) grant from Oxford University
NeuroTex, Ltd.
CEO: Richard Skipper
Location: London, UK
Medium Used: Modified Silkworms
Initial Target Market: Medical
Website: (down)
Notes: Spinoff company of Oxford Biomaterials. Possibly defunct.
Orthox, Ltd.
CEO: Nick Skaer
Location: Milton, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK
Medium Used: Modified Silkworms
Initial Target Market: Medical
Website: http://www.orthox.co.uk/
Notes: Spinoff Company of Oxford Biomaterials. £1.2m trust and £1.7m in funding in 2013, £1.6m trust and £411k grant in 2012 ($8.14M total)
Spin'tec Engineering, GmbH
CEO: Michael Rheinnecker
Location: Aachen, Germany
Medium Used: Modified Silkworms
Initial Target Market: Pharmaceuticals
Website: http://www.spintec-engineering.de/spintec-engineering.de/Home_E.html (down)
Notes: Partnered with KLS Martin Group in 2012
Bolt Threads, Inc.
CEO: Dan Widmaier
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Medium Used: Transgenic Yeast
Initial Target Market: Mundane Textiles
Website: http://boltthreads.com/
Notes: Formerly called Refactored Materials, Inc. Has multiple grants from NSF and DOD totaling over $1.4 million. Received $40 million in VC funding. Working with Unifi Inc. (UFI) and looking for other partners. Targeting commercialization in 2016.
Okamoto Corporation
CEO: Tetsuji Okamoto
Location: Osaka, Japan
Medium Used: Transgenic Silkworms
Initial Target Market: Socks
Website: http://www.okamotogroup.com/en/
Notes: They already create multiple types of socks using current textiles.
Cocoon Biotech, Inc.
CEO: Ailis Tweed-Kent
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Medium Used: ???
Initial Target Market: Medical
Website: http://www.cocoonbiotech.com/
Notes: Newly created company. Working with Tufts University.
Isanago, Inc.
CEO: Nomura Yoshihiro
Location: Kyotango, Kyoto, Japan
Medium Used: Transgenic Silkworms
Initial Target Market: Mundane & Technical Textiles
Website: (none)
Notes: Worked with JAXA developing silk gloves and is looking into starting up a pilot facility.
There are also several universities working on developing spider silk including but not limited to:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS)
Lead Researcher: Katsura Kojima
Location: Tsukuba, Japan
Medium Used: Transgenic Silkworms
Notes: Has released a PLoS paper and woven a sweater and scarf. Silk is 1.5 times stronger than standard silk. Was looking into setting up in India.
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
Lead Researcher: Javier G. Fernandez
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Medium Used: Transgenic Shrimp
Notes: Invented "Shrilk". Hopes to replace plastic to reduce plastic waste.
Medical School Hannover
Lead Researcher: Hanna Wendt
Location: Hannover, Germany
Medium Used: Actual Spiders
Notes: Created artificial skin as a wound patch and bone mender
University of the Pacific
Lead Researcher: Craig Vierra
Location: Stockon, CA, USA
Medium Used: E. coli
Notes: Developing proprietary spinnerets that weave stronger fibers from proteins
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Lead Researcher: Sang Yup Lee
Location: Daejeon, South Korea
Medium Used: E. coli
Notes: Was having issues with maintaining strength in their fibers. Currently looking for funding.
He stated in a followup post that he wouldn't be back on until Thanksgiving, so it will be here waiting for him.
Looking at this list again, I noticed I left off a company due to very little info and mistook the Cocoon Biotech CEO. Their CEO should be Ailis Tweed-Kent. David Kaplain was a founder and is a researcher for them. I forgot to update my list of companies when I found that out.
The company I left off was:
Isanago, Inc.
CEO: Nomura Yoshihiro
Location: Kyotango, Kyoto, Japan
Medium Used: Transgenic Silkworms
Initial Target Market: Mundane & Technical Textiles
Website: (none)
Notes: Worked with JAXA developing silk gloves and is looking into starting up a pilot facility.
Unfortunately, I don't have much info on this company other than above and that they started up in 2009. When I get some more time and they start getting some spotlight, I can try to dig up more info, but thats what I got now.
Hi algonquin,
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Inc. (KBLB) is the only private company that is attempting to mass produce spider silk like materials. Bolt Threads Inc. is a private company, but they are working with Unifi Inc. (UFI) to create some of their textiles.
Here is a snapshot of all of the companies currently trying to create spider silk that I have put together:
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. (KBLB)
CEO: Kim Thompson
Location: Lansing, Michigan, USA
Medium Used: Transgenic Silkworms
Initial Target Market: Mundane & Technical Textiles
Website: http://www.kraiglabs.com/
Notes: Commercializing Monster Silk® with Warwick Mills, and developing Big Red, SpiderPillar®, and Dragon Silk™ fibers. Full scale factory in Vietnam planned pending Vietnamese legislation.
Entogenetics, Inc.
CEO: David Brigham
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Medium Used: Transgenic Silkworms
Initial Target Market: ???
Website: http://www.entogenetics.com/
Notes: Received $309,159 contract with US Army to create body armor. Currently growing Mulberry trees locally to scale up their operations.
Spiber, Inc. and Xpiber, Inc.
CEO: Kazuhide Sekiyama
Location: Tsuruoka, Yamagata, Japan
Medium Used: Bacteria (Transgenic E. coli?)
Initial Target Market: Technical Textiles & Automotive
Website: http://www.spiber.jp/en/
Notes: Created QMONOS® fiber dress. Has raised 780.33 Million Yen (~$7.8M). Working with Kojima Industries Inc. Have built 2 Pilot Facilities. Commercialization targeted for 2017 with full scale operations planned by 2025.
Spiber Technologies, AB
CEO: Mats Grahn
Location: Norra Djurgården, Sweden
Medium Used: Transgenic E. coli
Initial Target Market: Medical
Website: http://www.spiber.se/
Notes: Has 5M SEK (~$720,000) contract with VINNOVA to develop wound patch
Araknitek, Inc.
CEO: Randy Lewis
Location: Logan, Utah, USA
Medium Used: Transgenic Goats, E. coli, Silkworms, and Alfalfa
Initial Target Market: ???
Website: http://www.araknitek.com/
Notes: USU received $1.15M in grants from USN and NSF. Recently expanded their laboratory for E.Coli testing.
AMSilk, GmbH
CEO: Jens Klein
Location: Martinsried, Germany
Medium Used: Transgenic E. coli
Initial Target Market: Cosmetics & Medical
Website: http://www.amsilk.com/en/
Notes: Had a commercial run of Spider Silk cosmetics. Developing silicone implant coatings.
Oxford Biomaterials, Ltd.
CEO: Stéphanie Lesage
Location: Oxford, UK
Medium Used: Modified Silkworms
Initial Target Market: Medical
Website: http://www.oxfordbiomaterials.com/
Notes: £100,000 ($165,000) grant from Oxford University
NeuroTex, Ltd.
CEO: Richard Skipper
Location: London, UK
Medium Used: Modified Silkworms
Initial Target Market: Medical
Website: (down)
Notes: Spinoff company of Oxford Biomaterials. Possibly defunct.
Orthox, Ltd.
CEO: Nick Skaer
Location: Milton, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK
Medium Used: Modified Silkworms
Initial Target Market: Medical
Website: http://www.orthox.co.uk/
Notes: Spinoff Company of Oxford Biomaterials. £1.2m trust and £1.7m in funding in 2013, £1.6m trust and £411k grant in 2012 ($8.14M total)
Spin'tec Engineering, GmbH
CEO: Michael Rheinnecker
Location: Aachen, Germany
Medium Used: Modified Silkworms
Initial Target Market: Pharmaceuticals
Website: http://www.spintec-engineering.de/spintec-engineering.de/Home_E.html (down)
Notes: Partnered with KLS Martin Group in 2012
Bolt Threads, Inc.
CEO: Dan Widmaier
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Medium Used: Transgenic Yeast
Initial Target Market: Mundane Textiles
Website: http://boltthreads.com/
Notes: Formerly called Refactored Materials, Inc. Has multiple grants from NSF and DOD totaling over $1.4 million. Received $40 million in VC funding. Targeting commercialization in 2016.
Okamoto Corporation
CEO: Tetsuji Okamoto
Location: Osaka, Japan
Medium Used: Transgenic Silkworms
Initial Target Market: Socks
Website: http://www.okamotogroup.com/en/
Notes: They already create multiple types of socks using current textiles.
Cocoon Biotech, Inc.
CEO: David Kaplan
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Medium Used: ???
Initial Target Market: Medical
Website: http://www.cocoonbiotech.com/
Notes: Newly created company. Working with Tufts University.
There are also several universities working on developing spider silk including but not limited to:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS)
Lead Researcher: Katsura Kojima
Location: Tsukuba, Japan
Medium Used: Transgenic Silkworms
Notes: Has released a PLoS paper and woven a sweater and scarf. Silk is 1.5 times stronger than standard silk. Was looking into setting up in India.
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
Lead Researcher: Javier G. Fernandez
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Medium Used: Transgenic Shrimp
Notes: Invented "Shrilk". Hopes to replace plastic to reduce plastic waste.
Medical School Hannover
Lead Researcher: Hanna Wendt
Location: Hannover, Germany
Medium Used: Actual Spiders
Notes: Created artificial skin as a wound patch and bone mender
University of the Pacific
Lead Researcher: Craig Vierra
Location: Stockon, CA, USA
Medium Used: E. coli
Notes: Developing proprietary spinnerets that weave stronger fibers from proteins
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Lead Researcher: Sang Yup Lee
Location: Daejeon, South Korea
Medium Used: E. coli
Notes: Was having issues with maintaining strength in their fibers. Currently looking for funding.
Hi Rayo,
I did indeed take the pictures of Spiber Inc.'s QMONOS dress myself. I posted it in my Post 92181.
The link to the pictures is at http://imgur.com/a/qqmpi#0
Thank you for those links, I had not seen them before.
I had known that they recieved grants through the National Science Foundation and Department of Defense for quite a bit based on this: https://www.usaspending.gov/Pages/AdvancedSearch.aspx?k=refactored%20materials
You may be right about them wanting to keep these classified, especially with the DOD involved. That may be the reason why there have been no recent patent applications by them and why they are very hush hush about the properties of the fibers.
I still don't think that they will be able to produce these proteins and spin them into fibers as cost effectively as KBLB's methods yet. They have more future potential to downscale the cost as technology improves, but I think KBLB will have the initial lead in the cheapest Spider Silk fibers which should make plenty of money well before Bolt or Spiber can develop and scale their operations to meet KBLB's prices. This is assuming, of course, that KBLB can actually get their initial commercial facility established sometime soon.
By the way, I noticed that you called the company "Bolt Technologies". I had never heard them called this. I googled this term and the only thing that popped up was a company that developes seismic searching systems for the offshore oil industry. Really nothing to do with Spider Silk. Was this a mistake or is this an alternate name for them that I had not heard of before?
Looking into it more, I agree with you about them likely having dragline silk.
A quote from the Foundation Capital page discussing Bolt Threads:
You may be right. They have stated in many of their articles that they can effectively program the properties of the silk to an extent to fit the desired application, so even if they are unable to currently reach the dragline properties, I doubt it will be long until they do.
EDIT: Interesting thing here. You posted something earlier in October last year in your Post 82213 that stated that their initial product is dragline silk.
If you follow the link in that post, it now no longer states what you quoted. It now states: