Seminario G. Greco

Il giorno 9 gennaio 2024 alle ore 12 presso l'aula 412 Gabriele Greco (Uni Trento & Swedish Uni of Agricultural Sciences) terra' un seminario dal titolo

Spider silks are like potatoes: so many possibilities

Abstract

Spiders are often reviled, but their silks and webs are commonly viewed in awe and have fascinated humankind. From raising the interest of ancient philosophers to the practical outcomes in societies, spider silks have always been part of our culture and, thus, of our scientific development.
The “wow effect” for spiders and their silks initially comes from the good use that the animals make of these protein-based fibers to solve many challenges that were imposed by natural selection. How can a spider lift animals thousands of times heavier? How can spiders fly? How can spiders build structures that can even stop small birds?
Nature has designed silk to be produced at environmentally friendly conditions and to have exceptional mechanical and biological properties, reasons for which spider silks have deeply been investigated in these decades for their possible applications in biomedical technology, the textile industry, and soft electronics. Thus, this diversity in materials and structural applications makes spider silks' scientific outcomes potentially infinite. This seminar aims to delve into the recent discoveries related to spider silk, and the possibility of producing this material artificially at a scale compatible with industrial production using an environmentally friendly green protocol.