Animals, Science & Technology, Weird Stuff, Jan 24th, 2012,
Freckles the goat is part spider. Her milk is loaded with spider silk protein. The silk from Freckles has potential uses in medicine (as a ligament replacement), is stronger than Kevlar and extremely elastic. So why not just harvest the silk from spiders? Spiders can’t be farmed because they are cannibalistic, while goats have been farmed for 10,000 years or so. Genetically engineered ‘spider goats’ also produce vast amounts of spider silk in their milk when compared to tiny golden orb spiders. Freckles is the creation of Randy Lewis, a professor of genetics at Utah State University. The farm…
Tags: engineered, Freckles, genetic, goat, silk, spider
Science & Technology, Weird Stuff, May 22nd, 2010,
Scientists in the US state of Wyoming are extracting special proteins by milking goats that have been injected with spider DNA. Spider silk is known for being extremely strong and elastic – making it very useful for certain medical and industrial applications. Randy Lewis, a professor of microbiology, heads up the team of scientists who injected a herd of goats with genes from a golden orb spider. From an article in the Toronto Sun: Because of its strength and flexibility, people are interested in spider silk for uses that range from artificial ligaments and tendons to bulletproof vests and even…
Tags: DNA, goats, Lewis, professor, Randy, scientists, silk, spider, spiders
