Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Announces Results at Joint Press Conference
September 29 2010 - 1:44PM
Marketwired
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, (OTCBB: KBLB) is very pleased to
announce that the following release was made by the University of
Notre Dame moments ago.
Notre Dame and University of Wyoming scientists
genetically engineer silkworms to produce artificial spider
silk
A research and development effort by the University of Notre
Dame, the University of Wyoming, and Kraig Biocraft Laboratories,
Inc. has succeeded in producing transgenic silkworms capable of
spinning artificial spider silks.
"This research represents a significant breakthrough in the
development of superior silk fibers for both medical and
non-medical applications," said Malcolm J. Fraser Jr., a Notre Dame
professor of biological sciences. "The generation of silk fibers
having the properties of spider silks has been one of the important
goals in materials science."
Natural spider silks have a number of unusual physical
properties, including significantly higher tensile strength and
elasticity than naturally spun silkworm fibers. The artificial
spider silks produced in these transgenic silkworms have similar
properties of strength and flexibility to native spider silk.
Silk fibers have many current and possible future biomedical
applications, such as use as fine suture materials, improved wound
healing bandages, or natural scaffolds for tendon and ligament
repair or replacement. Spider silk-like fibers may also have
applications beyond biomedical uses, such as in bulletproof vests,
strong and lightweight structural fabrics, a new generation
athletic clothing and improved automobile airbags.
Until this breakthrough, only very small quantities of
artificial spider silk had ever been produced in laboratories, but
there was no commercially viable way to produce and spin these
artificial silk proteins. Kraig Biocraft believed these limitations
could be overcome by using recombinant DNA to develop a
bio-technological approach for the production of silk fibers with a
much broader range of physical properties or with pre-determined
properties, optimized for specific biomedical or other
applications.
The firm entered into a research agreement with Fraser, who
discovered and patented a powerful and unique genetic engineering
tool called "piggyBac." PiggyBac is a piece of DNA -- known as a transposon that can insert itself into
the genetic machinery of a cell.
"Several years ago, we discovered that the piggyBac transposon
could be useful for genetic engineering of the silkworm, and the
possibilities for using this commercial protein production platform
began to become apparent."
Fraser, with the assistance of University of Wyoming researcher
Randy Lewis, a biochemist who is one of the world's foremost
authorities on spider silk, and Don Jarvis, a noted molecular
geneticist who specializes in insect protein production,
genetically engineered silkworms in which they incorporated
specific DNAs taken from spiders. When these transgenic silkworms
spin their cocoons, the silk produced is not ordinary silkworm
silk, but, rather, a combination of silkworm silk and spider silk.
The genetically engineered silk protein produced by the transgenic
silkworms has markedly improved elasticity and strength approaching
that of native spider silk.
"We've also made strides in improving the process of genetic
engineering of these animals so that the development of additional
transgenics is facilitated," Fraser said. "This will allow us to
more rapidly assess the effectiveness of our gene manipulations in
continued development of specialized silk fibers."
Since silkworms are already a commercially viable silk
production platform, these genetically engineered silkworms
effectively solve the problem of large scale production of
engineered protein fibers in an economically practical way.
"Using this entirely unique approach, we have confirmed that
transgenic silkworms can be a potentially viable commercial
platform for production of genetically engineered silk proteins
having customizable properties of strength and elasticity," Fraser
said. "We may even be able to genetically engineer fibers that
exceed the remarkable properties of native spider silk."
The genetic engineering breakthrough was announced today (Sept.
29) by Fraser, Lewis and Kraig Biocraft CEO Kim Thompson at a press
conference on the Notre Dame campus.
Contact: Malcolm J. Fraser Jr.,
574-631-6209, fraser.1@nd.edu From: William
G. Gilroy, assistant director, public relations
For more information on Kraig Biocraft Laboratories please visit
the Company's web site: http://www.KraigLabs.com
Statements in this press release about the company's future and
expectations other than historical facts are "forward-looking
statements." These statements are made on the basis of management's
current views and assumptions. As a result, there can be no
assurance that management's expectations will necessarily come to
pass. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified
by phrases such as "believes," "plans," "expects," "anticipates,"
"foresees," "hopes," "develops," "researching," "research,"
"potential," "could" or other words or phrases of similar import.
Similarly, statements in this release that describe the Company's
business strategy, outlook, objectives, plans, intentions or goals
should all be considered forward-looking statements. All such
forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those in forward-looking statements. Management cautions that
its ability to further its research, and create commercially-viable
products may be affected by the competitive environment, the
Company's financial condition and its ability to raise sufficient
capital to meet the financial obligations of its business plan and
to fund its continuing operations.
CONTACT: Ben Hansel (720) 288-8495 Email Contact
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