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Silk

Silk

Silks are natural polymers with outstanding properties. Some spider silks are tougher than the toughest synthetic polymers and even outperform steel in terms of strength by weight. Also, because it is a biocompatible protein, silk is ideally suited for use in biomedical applications and environmentally friendly.

The outstanding properties of silk are due to its interesting structure, featuring a peculiar organization down to molecular scales. We apply our imaging techniques to spider and silkworm silk protein to provide unprecedented insights into assembly at single-molecule resolutions. This knowledge will help develop new processes to make silks artificially: novel materials that are environmentally benign and feature excellent mechanical properties.

Our lab also studies the brown recluse spider, which spins a thin ribbon of silk instead of a cylindrical strand typical of other species. By applying our imaging and various characterization techniques to this ribbon morphology, we are able to reveal its novel structural, adhesive, and mechanical properties in an unprecedented fashion. The thin ribbon shape of brown recluse silk grants us an easier system to study the origin of the appealing properties offered by natural silk materials. The information obtained from brown recluse silk will help us manufacture artificial thin silk films with the impressive properties of a native brown recluse strand.

Our Lab's Major Breakthroughs in Silk Research

We were the first to...

... discover a self-strengthening effect for any tape material like the recluse's nano-ribbon silk (2022)
... determine the secondary protein structure of recluse silk (2022)
... measure the transverse modulus and the nanofibril adhesive energy of recluse silk (2022)
... show that recluse spider silk is composed entirely of nanofibrils (2018)
... show that the recluse spider makes micro-loops into its ribbon silk (2017)
... show that "looping" of fibers can dramatically enhance material toughness via "strain cycling" (2017)
... show that silk does not self-assemble in the absence of shear (2015)
... show that regeneration of silk alters its behavior at the molecular scale (2015)
... pull silk directly from the recluse spider (2013)
... test the stiffness of recluse silk (2013)
... discover that recluse silk features "nano-papillae" — and we got to name them! (2013)
... shear silk solution into molecularly thin silk fibrils (2012)
... visualize individual molecules of native silkworm silk (2012)

Our Silk Research in the Media

TV, Video, Radio & Podcasts

Jul 2022	The successful 12-minute episode on our silk research titled Bulletproof Spider Silk was re-aired in July 2022 on NPR. (Episode Link)
Jul 2022	Our spider silk research was featured on TV! Reporter and news anchor Anthony Sabella from channel 3 WTKR came to the lab to interview Dinidu Perera and Ben Skopic and learn more about our spiders. You can watch the video feature on our blog or the WTKR website!
Mar 2020	10-minute podcast on our silk research titled The Superpowers of Spider Silk.. Aired by the National Nanotechnology Initiative (nano.gov). Online since Mar. 16 on Nano Matters. (Episode Link)
Feb 2019	12-minute radio feature of our silk research titled Bulletproof Spider Silk. Aired Feb. 15 on NPR's show “With Good Reason” hosted by Sarah McConnell. (Episode Link)
Nov 2018	Science Magazine produced a video featuring our recent breakthrough on the nanofibrillar structure of spider silk on Nov. 20. (Link to Video)
May 2017	Slovak National Radio (rtvs), 5-minute radio interview carried out by host Martin Rajec on our latest research on the silk of the recluse spider. *Aired on May 13, 2017*.
Mar 2017	The *U.S. National Science Foundation* produces a video feature of our breakthrough on the loops of the brown recluse spider in their Science Now—Science 360 show (Episode 50).
Feb 2017	Discovery Channel Canada airs a TV feature of our brown recluse looped silk discovery in their science show Daily Planet (7:00 pm show on February 15).
Feb 2017	The Daily Press has a video feature on our silk research.
Feb 2017	*BBC radio interview*: On Feb. 20, the BBC aired a 5-minute radio interview with Prof. Schniepp on the group's recent breakthough on the looped recluse silk. Now available here (The Naked Scientists).
Feb 2017	*ABC Australia radio interview*: On Feb. 24, the BBC interview was also aired on the other side of the world. Now available here (The Naked Scientists).
Feb 2017	*The Naked Scientists*, a British science podcast, features Prof. Schniepp's BBC interview on their web page, including a written story and images: link.
Sep 2015	Video Interview: The Daily Press talks to Prof. Schniepp on the group's latest research on silkworm silk.
Mar 2014	*Discovery Channel Canada* airs a TV feature of our brown recluse silk project in their science show Daily Planet (7:00 pm show on March 10).
Mar 2014	William & Mary produces the 4-minute video story "In the lab: 'Milking' brown recluse spiders for silk" about our work on brown recluse spider silk.
Oct 2013	Daily Press Video Interview: Interview with Prof. Schniepp about our research on the recluse spider silk. This is goes along with their long article, accompanied with pictures.

In Print Media

Aug 2022	Ben Swenson from the Daily Press wrote a fantastic newspaper article featuring our recent Nature Communications paper. You can view the article online Here.
Jun 2019	*Falter* (weekly newspaper in Austria) "Warum wir die Braune Einsiedlerspinne melken". , Total circulation: 271,000.
May 2019	“Supermicroscope reveals the secret of the spider” — feature *Science Illustrated, magazine 5/2019. Print edition published in Australia, Thailand, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, The Netherlands, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovenia. Total circulation 400,000.*
Feb 2017	*The Daily Press* (Hampton Roads newspaper), front page, "Recluse spider silk could hold the key to space-age materials"
Sep 2015	Cover Story in the Daily Press featuring our recently published research on shear-induced self-assembly of molecularly thin silk fibrils.
Dec 2013	Advanced Materials features our brown recluse silk paper out of all communications of the Dec 23 issue with a full-page frontispiece.
Oct 2013	Chemical & Engineering News feature: C & E News features our paper on the recluse spider silk in their October 28 issue.
Oct 2013	Virginia Gazette brown recluse feature: Our research on the silk of the brown recluse spider is featured with a story and photos in their October 19 issue.
Oct 2013	The Daily Press, Hampton Roads' big newspaper, prominently features our research on the recluse spider silk with a long online article, accompanied with pictures and a video interview. In the print edition, our story had a large title page feature in the Oct 15 issue.
Oct 2013	The WIRED magazine highlights our research on the silk of the brown recluse spider with an exciting article.
Mar 2012	"Making spider-sense" — our ground breaking discoveries on the silk protein are featured in the ideation magazine.

Online Media

Oct 2022	Popular Science interviewed Hannes Schniepp for an article on the exciting research being done across all silk fields. The article focuses on new advances in spinning silkworm silk but Hannes is featured as the spider silk expert. You can view the article online Here.
Sep 2022	William & Mary's student newspaper, The Flat Hat wrote a nice piece paper titled, “Biomaterials lab pioneers study of spider silk applications, publishes three groundbreaking papers”. You can view the article on the Flat Hat's website Here.
Jul 2022	The Williamsburg Yorktown Daily wrote a great article featuring our recent Nature Communications paper titled, “The Itsy-Bitsy Spiders: William & Mary Study Reveals Secrets of Spider Silk”. You can view the article on the WYDaily website Here.
Jul 2022	Beautiful story in W&M News featuring our brand new Nature Communications paper on the molecularstructure of spider silk!
Jul 2022	Channel 3 WTKR wrote the story, "This spider's bite is dangerous, but local scientists say studying its steely silk could save lives" associated with the video interview.
Nov 2018	Danmarks Radio's Pernille Kjeldgaard Kristensen writes the online story “Edderkoppespind er stærkt som stål: Nu ved vi hvorfor” (Dec 2, 2018). Link.
Nov 2018	Discussion of the recent ACS Macro Letters paper reaches #1 on the engineering subreddit for two days receiving over 32,000 upvotes and 800 comments. (Link to thread)
Nov 2018	Smithsonian Magazine's Jason Daley writes “Brown Recluse Silk Is Stronger Than Steel Because It’s Constructed Like a Cable” (Nov 21, 2018). Link.
Feb 2017	*Chemistry World* (The Royal Society of Chemistry), "Spider silk strength is in the loop"
Feb 2017	*Oxford News* (University of Oxford), "Deadly spider’s spinning technique could inspire tougher materials"
Feb 2017	*Inside Science* (American Institute of Physics), "Loops Give Extra Toughness to Recluse Spider Silk"
Feb 2017	*Seeker, Venomous brown recluse spiders produce incredibly strong web silk that could be copied for multiple uses, including snagging space junk: "Deadly Spider Sews Industrial-Strength Silk Strands"*
Feb 2017	*W&M News, "The brown recluse spider engineers extra-strong silk by spinning loops onto a flat strand"*
Oct 2015	Our research on the silk of the brown recluse spider is highlighted by the ideation magazine article: "Unraveling the secret of silk that's more alive than dead".

Our Press Releases

29 Jul 2022	Press Release: Super Strong Spider Silk Inspired Tape JunctionsBy Ben Skopic Using inspiration from recluse spider webs, we describe how make an amazingly strong junction using any tape!
10 Jul 2022	Press Release: Nanofibrillar Structure of Recluse SilkBy Ben Skopic We developed a new method to determine the mechanical anisotropy of thin films. Using this technique we are able to determine the transverse modulus of recluse silk and the adhesive energy between adjacent nanofibrils for the first time.
14 Feb 2017	Press Release: Looped Ribbon Silk By Hannes Schniepp Our latest paper in Material Horizons found that by adding loops, brown recluse spider can make its silk strand much tougher.
1 Sep 2015	Press Release: Processed Silk By Hannes Schniepp Our recent paper in Biomacromolesules revealed for first time that there are Flaws of Processed Silk Revealed at the Molecular Scale.
8 Oct 2013	Release: Recluse Spider’s Thin and Strong Silk RibbonsBy Hannes Schniepp We were the first team to extract silk fibers from the recluse spider and tested its properties.

Our Related Publications

[57]	Materials Horizons (2022) — Skopic, Koebley, and Schniepp* "Self-strengthening Tape Junctions Inspired by Recluse Spider Webs"
[56]	Nature Communications (2022) — Wang, et al., Greenwood, Cotten, Qazilbash, Schniepp* "Protein Secondary Structure in Spider Silk Nanofibrils"
[55]	Small (2022) — Perera, Wang & Schniepp "Multi-Point Nanoindentation Method to Determine Mech. Anisotropy in Nanofibrillar Thin Films"
[48]	Macromolecular Bioscience (2021) — Liang, Tang, Sharma, Perera, Allardyce, Ghosh, Schniepp & Rajkhowa* "Silk Protein Paper with In Situ Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles".
[45]	JOM (2020) — Skopic & Schniepp* "Peeling in Biological and Bioinspired Adhesive Systems".
[37]	JOM (2019) — Wang & Schniepp* "Nanofibrils as Building Blocks of Silk Fibers: Critical Review of the Experimental Evidence"
[36]	ACS Macro Letters (2018) — Wang & Schniepp* "Strength of Recluse Spider's Silk Originates from Nanofibrils"
[32]	Materials Horizons (2017) — Koebley, Vollrath & Schniepp* "Toughness-enhancing metastructure in the recluse spider's looped ribbon silk"
[27]	Biomacromolecules (2015) — Koebley, Greving, Vollrath & Schniepp* "Silk Reconstitution Disrupts Fibroin Self-Assembly"
[25]	Adv. Materials (2013) — Schniepp, Koebley & Vollrath "Brown Recluse Spider's Nanometer Scale Ribbons of Stiff Extensible Silk"*
[19]	Biomacromolecules (2012) — Greving, Cai, Vollrath & Schniepp* "Shear-Induced Self-Assembly of Native Silk Proteins into Fibrils Studied by Atomic Force Microscopy"

Funding

May 2014	Prof. Schniepp is the recipient of an NSF CAREER Award from the U. S. National Science Foundation (award # DMR-1352542). The award will provide a total of $450,000 over 5 years to investigate the ribbon silk of the loxosceles spider.
Dec 2010	The Schniepp group receives a research grant from the Thomas F. Jeffress and Kate Miller Jeffress Memorial Trust. The funds will greatly enhance our silk project.