"Bulletproof skin" created with help of artist, goats, spiders
(CBS/AP) They're calling it "bulletproof skin."
With the help of an artist, scientists created "skin" from genetically engineered spider silk that's capable of stopping bullets fired at reduced speeds. And one of its creators thinks it can help surgeons better heal wounds.
How did "bulletproof skin" come about?
Researcher Randy Lewis and his collaborators at Utah State University gained international attention after discovering a way to manufacture silk fibers using goats and silkworms that had spider genes inserted into their makeup. Lewis bred about three dozen genetically engineered goats capable of this, and extracts proteins from their special milk, then spins them in a way that replicates the spider's method, resulting in the strong, light-weight fiber. Spider silk is one of the strongest fibers known - five times stronger than steel.
With Lewis' help, Dutch artist Jalila Essaidi - funded by a European genetics-in-art grant -experimented by weaving a lattice of human skin cells and silk to create "bulletrproof skin". Essaidi acknowledged that Lewis thought the project was wacky at first.
"But in the end, what curious person can say no to a project like this?" she said.
Essaidi initially intended to fire .22 caliber bullets at the "skin" stretched in a frame but decided to place it on a special gelatin block used at the Netherlands Forensic Institute.
A high-speed camera showed that a bullet fired at a reduced speed pierced skin woven with ordinary silk. But when tested again with Lewis' genetically engineered silk grafted between the epidermis and dermis, the skin didn't break. Neither, however, could repel a bullet fired at normal speed from a .22 caliber rifle.
Lewis was surprised the skin kept the bullet from going in but acknowledged, "It still ended up 2 inches into the torso so it would not have saved your life," he said. "But without a doubt the most exciting part for us is the fact that they were able to recreate the skin on top of our fibers. It's something we haven't done - nobody has worked in that area."
Could the genetically engineered silk really be used to create bulletproof skin?
"I certainly would not discount that," he said. "But I don't see that as a tremendous application at the moment." That's because bulletproof vests already exist, he said.
But Lewis thinks the ability to grow cells and use the material to replace large amounts of human skin could help surgeons trying to cover large wounds, or treat people with severe burns.
The material's strength and elasticity, he said, would enable doctors to cover large areas without worrying about ripping skin out - a major advantage over small skin grafts. But FDA approval is still far from reality. More testing is needed, according to Lewis.
"We know some skin cells will grow (on our fibers), but can we get cells that make ligaments and tendons grow?"
Read more about the project on Jalila Essaidi's blog.
