"Artificial synthetic spider yarn" which is likely to bring about technological progress since nylon

ByBruce Ruston

The advent of the world's first synthetic fiber "nylon" has had a major impact not only on the world of fashion but also on everyday items. After 80 years, the next "fashion revolution" may bring about "Artificial synthetic spider thread"is.

Synthetic spider silk could be the biggest technological advance in clothing since nylon - Quartz
http://qz.com/708298/synthetic-spider-silk-could-be-the-biggest-technological-advance-in-clothing-since-nylon/


Artificial synthetic spider yarn,tensile strength(Resistance to tensile strength) is very light as compared with steel, elasticity has the property of being comparable to that of rubber band, and if combinedKevlarIt is more robust. Artificial synthetic spider yarn which is also expressed as "fiber of dreams" is expected not only in the fashion direction but also in outdoor goods, medical equipment, automobile parts, in a wide range of fields.

This "artificial synthetic spider yarn" is leading the JapaneseSpiber (spybar), In the state of CaliforniaBolt ThreadsWe are two companies.

According to Sue Levin, Bolt Threads' chief marketing officer, Bolt Threads is making artificially synthesized spider thread with genetically modified yeast, water, sugar as the main ingredient. Bolt Threads raised 50 million dollars (about 5 billion yen) and announced an alliance with Patagonia, an outdoor goods maker.

According to Mr. Kazuhide Sekiyama, founder of Spybar, research on artificial synthetic spider thread has been conducted by NASA and US military since the 1990's, and advanced techniques that cross the field are necessary, including genetic engineering I have not been successful for a long time. Mr. Sekiyama et al. Began researching around 2004, and with the development of biotechnology etc. at a good timing, Mr. Sekiyama and others succeeded in making microorganisms like something like a spider's string.

World's first successful commercialization of artificial synthetic spider yarn! How to find the theme spiked by President Spybar | Project to change the future by DODA
https://mirai.doda.jp/series/interview/spiber-kazuhide-sekiyama/


Spider thread is only one of "proteins", but there was a problem of cost to make protein material practical.According to SpybarIn the world of fermentation there is a "100 dollar wall" that it is difficult to lower the production cost of microbial recombinant protein to less than 100 dollars per kilogram (about 10,000 yen), while in the material world 20 It seems there was "common sense" that it will not spread unless it falls below the dollar (about 2000 yen) to 30 dollars (about 3000 yen), and it will not become a huge market unless it becomes less than 10 dollars (about 1000 yen) per kg .

This is cleared by technological innovation accumulated over 11 years in spy bar. Productivity fell to 4500 times compared to 2008 when full-scale fermentation production experiments started, manufacturing cost fell to 1 / 53,000, and it was able to drop to the cost aiming at large scale spread.

At the moment, it is the spy bar one step ahead. Like Bolt Threads, I made a prototype of an outer jacket using a protein material "QMONOS" using artificial synthetic spider thread, in collaboration with the outdoor goods brand "THE NORTH FACE". This prototype is called "MOON PARKA".

THE NORTH FACE - Spiber × GOLDWIN
http://www.goldwin.co.jp/tnf/special/spiber/moon_parka/


"MOON PARKA" is the world's first clothing made using artificial protein material, real industrial line. It said that it was able to grasp the problem for establishment of the industrialization process by this, and now it is entering the phase of practical application.

Perhaps more than a decade or so, artificial protein material may dominate the world.