Spidey Tek and Utah State University Unite on Real Spider Silk
LOS ANGELES, April 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Spidey Tek LLC and Utah State University, on April 10, 2018, announced they have signed a worldwide exclusive licensing agreement for the mass production of spider silk proteins and commercialization of spider silk-related technologies.
The Spidey Tek Team brings Real Spider Silk to the manufacturing marketplace.
The Spidey Tek Team is a world leader in spider silk-based lightweight material development and engineering. The Spidey Tek Scientific Team, led by Utah Science Technology and Research Biology and Spidey Tek Scientific Officer professor Randy Lewis, Ph.D., have been on the forefront of developing technologies and processes to produce large quantities of spider silk protein – one of the strongest materials on Earth. Professor Randy Lewis, Ph.D., leads the spider silk research at USU and is the chief science officer of Spidey Tek LLC. "This Spidey Tek Scientific Team is making science fiction – science fact," said world-class designer and lightweight material science expert Roberto Velozzi, CEO of Spidey Tek.
It is a long-standing scientific reality that actual spider silk is the strongest natural fiber on the planet. Until now it has been impossible to produce real spider silk proteins and fibers in commercially viable quantities. The Spidey Tek Team has not only discovered the pathway to the mass production of actual spider silk proteins and fibers, Spidey Tek has recently developed breakthrough methods to inexpensively mass produce Real Spider Silk. Spidey Tek's Real Spider Silk proteins and fibers are made utilizing the genes used by actual spiders in nature, matching and at times exceeding the mechanical properties of the natural spider silk. These enhanced mechanical properties will be added to many existing and future products to improve their performance.
Spider silk has tensile strength greater than most man-made materials, and has the added benefit of elasticity, making it far tougher (more energy required to break) than other materials. It is a bio-material stronger and lighter than steel, aluminum, carbon fiber, Kevlar or almost any other manufactured substance. "Imagine a material stronger and much lighter than steel that can be mass-produced and used in composite materials to make automobiles lighter and more durable, or in other applications that call for stronger and lighter materials," said Dr. Lewis.
The Spidey Tek Team is the only scientific group in the world with this technology and the ability to utilize this super-material in a wide array of products such as adhesives, coatings, films, gels and 3-D printing materials. Spidey Tek has already developed a basic spider silk glue which is many times stronger than the leading brand of consumer glue. Spidey Tek plans to bring this line of glues and adhesives to market as the initial products for the company. Additional testing on this base-line adhesive is underway and the results will be shared in subsequent announcements, along with side-by-side comparisons with other well-known adhesive products. "No other company can match Spidey Tek's Real Spider Silk's test results and product versatility," Velozzi added.
All of the Spidey Tek's spider silk technologies and processes will be trade-marked worldwide by Spidey Tek under the trade names Spidey, Spidey Tek and ARACHNO.
Since its founding in 1888, Utah State University has evolved from a small-town college tucked away in the Northern Utah mountains to a thriving research university respected around the world. Students can choose from an array of academic and social opportunities at a university known throughout the world for its intellectual and technological leadership. The mission of Utah State University is to be one of the nation's premier student-centered land-grant and space-grant universities by fostering the principle that academics come first, by cultivating diversity of thought and culture and by serving the public through learning, discovery and engagement. "Spidey Tek fully supports this great academic tradition and will be instrumental in supporting further opportunities in the bourgeoning spider silk research being conducted at Utah State University," stated Roberto Velozzi.
Spidey Tek, based in Sherman Oaks, California, is a bioengineering company dedicated to the mass production of spider silk protein and using it to produce superior products for the 21st century. "The combination of exclusive genetic science from USU combined with Spidey Tek's spider silk technologies, material science expertise and product – market access makes for a great partnership. Plus, all of the science, production, technology applications and methods are protected under the Spidey Tek Team's combined international patents," Velozzi concluded.
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SOURCE Spidey Tek LLC
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