Biosteel artificial spider silk fiber

AMSilk, a spin-off company using research developed at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM), Munich, Germany, has produced artificial silk fibers entirely made of recombinant spider silk proteins. Prototypes of the fiber, named Biosteel® for its formidable tensile strength, are smooth to the touch, shine like silk and are brilliant white (but can be dyed with common techniques). Applications for Biosteel include high-performance technical textiles, sporting goods, medical textiles and surgical products, such as mesh tissue supports or wound coverings. Research at TUM unlocked the molecular mechanisms responsible for the enormous strength of spider silk fiber in 2011, and AMSilk is intensifying its raw material production at a pilot plant of the Research Center for Industrial Biotechnology in Garching, Germany.