Three Will Ben Jose Alvin

Refined Spidersilk Synthesis New high tensile material enabling novel structures and invention

Significance and Uses The suggested form was dragline silk 5 times stronger than steel by weight Uses would include cables, sutures, ligament replacements, bulletproof vests,

Competitors Recombinant silkworms (2)‏ BioSteel (recombinant goats) (1)‏ Recombinant salmonella Kelvar Normal Steel Forcible and Natural Silk harvesting

Knowns Comprised of 2 proteins, coded for by genes MaSdI and MaSdII or ADF-3 and ADF-4 (1)‏ Difficulties in cloning entire genes because of large repeating sequences, so recombinant are usually shortened versions (3) ‏Also, really large proteins ( kD), which make secretion difficult (1)‏ There is a process for wet-spinning the recombinant silk (4)‏ Biological Structure of a spider's spinneret (1)

Unknowns How to deal successfully with and isolate the entirety of ADF-3, even with large repeating sequences How to get a cell to secrete a protein that is 200+ kD Easy purification of silk proteins Finer spinning process

Sources / 5213/ 12k447/ 12k447/ 1/0117_020117TVspidermammals.htmlhttp://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/0 1/0117_020117TVspidermammals.html 54/472? ijkey=hq9P3a.MOxB5w&keytype=ref&siteid=scihttp:// 54/472? ijkey=hq9P3a.MOxB5w&keytype=ref&siteid=sci

Idea: Biotic Antibiotics Current antibiotics very broad-spectrum Increasing occurrence of antibiotic resistance Supply of medication to third world Inability of immune system to evolve rapidly

Idea: Biotic Antibiotics Biological solution to biological problem Potential for great specificity Not susceptible to resistant strains Marginal cost zero Augmentation to human immune system

Idea: Biotic Antibiotics Competition: Existing medical treatments (antibiotics) Social resistance Human Immune System Evolution

Idea: Biotic Antibiotics Known Humans symbiotic Pre-existing 'probiotics' Bacteria compete to extinction Engineered kill-switches exist Unknown Safety considerations Attack methods other than competition Rate dynamics Targeting and encapsulation

Idea: Tunicate-based lithium refinement Half the world's accessible lithium in Bolivia: 5.4M tons Modern batteries entirely lithium-based Energy crunch Global warming

Idea: Tunicate-based lithium refinement Seawater: 230 billion tons of lithium Tunicates concentrate Li and V up to 1M x Biological power generation Metal refining: near free

Idea: Tunicate-based lithium refinement Competition: Current lithium refinement methods Coal, oil power Solar, wind power; biodiesel Evolution

Idea: Tunicate-based lithium refinement Known Tunicates can do it How to knock out a gene How material purification works Unknown Best implementation of gene Specific pathway tunicates use Controls for and constraints on system