Scientists have created a vegan spider silk made from plants that has the potential to replace many single-use plastics and is easily biodegradable.
The project has been led by Professor Tuomas Knowles of the University of Cambridge. Much of his research has explored what happens when proteins misbehave and form unusual shapes at a molecular level and how this relates to human health, primarily Alzheimers disease.
We normally investigate how protein interactions allow us to stay healthy and how irregular interactions are implicated in Alzheimers disease, he said. It was a surprise to find our research could also address a big problem in sustainability, that of plastic pollution.
In a paper published in the journal Nature Communications, Knowles and his colleagues describe how they
