Program

29/09/2023

Spider Silk: Key Evolutionary Achievement and Biomaterial of the Future

Spiders are well-known for their silk and webs. Evolutionary achievements related to their silk and its use were key to their diversification. The different types of silk produced by spiders are among the most adhesive, strongest, the most elastic and, in terms of tensile strength, the highest-quality biomaterials in existence.

09:30-10:30

Faculty of Education, Lecture Hall no. 012, Kardeljeva ploščad 16, Ljubljana

60504700

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This topic will be featured in a lecture by Matjaž Gregorič, PhD, from the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

The lecturer will present, on the one hand, how researchers seek to understand the evolutionary importance of spider silk from the molecular level to the use of such silk in building high-capacity webs, and on the other hand, how spider silk has extraordinary potential as a biomaterial for human use due do its wide range of intriguing mechanical properties.

Although the routine use of spider silk has not been achieved yet for any purpose, this dynamic field promises to be useful in practically all spheres of human life – from direct use of the material and making new chimeric biomaterials to enhancing synthetic materials and inventing new ones.

Lecture: Matjaž Gregorič, PhD, Jovan Hadži Institute of Biology, SAZU Research Centre

Moderator: Vesna Ferk Savec, PhD, Faculty of Education, Centre KemikUm