Brain Biotech and AMSilk’s collaboration focuses on the development of high-performance protein-based fibres tailored for various applications within the textile sector.
The joint venture has culminated in the registration of a Patent Cooperation Treaty that aims to showcase the potential of spider silk in creating sustainable textile solutions.
The success of the partnership is said to lie in the modification of structural proteins at the amino acid level, facilitated by Brain Biotech’s technologies.
Dr Alexander Pelzer, head of research & development at Brain Biotech commented: “Our successful rational protein engineering is based on the combination of two factors: the experience of our team – in conjunction with sequencing and structure-based bioinformatics methods, including AI predictions. The strategic R&D partnership with AMSilk is an excellent example of the power of our protein engineering pipeline.”
Pelzer explained Brain Biotech's team draws on its years of experience and uses AI-driven methodologies to implement suggested optimisations, subsequently scaling up production for application testing.
The result is described as a range of protein fibres with "greatly improved properties" in real applications.
After successfully producing and characterising these structural proteins at a millilitre scale, Brain Biotech scaled up the top candidates into a fermenter on a litre scale, making them available to AMSilk for application testing.
AMSilk is known for its expertise in advanced materials derived from spider silk-based proteins. It has developed the spinning process to transform silk protein fibres into silk beads, gels, and solutions.
AMSilk pointed out that its silk protein-based fibres offer an alternative to traditional materials with low CO2 consumption.
Gudrun Vogtentanz, chief scientific officer at AMSilk added: “Together with Brain Biotech, we are bringing tailor-made material solutions to the market that not only meet the needs of customers but are sustainable.
"This will enable us to revolutionise the performance materials market in the long term, which is currently dominated by fossil-based textiles. With their years of protein engineering expertise and with our common vision, Brain Biotech is an ideal fit as a development partner.”
