Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Inc. is an emerging biotech company with a strong intellectual property portfolio relating to genetic modification of silkworms to produce spider silk. The company believes this path of research will lead to the development of a new “super fiber” such as Kevlar. The total market for such fibers is believed to be about $90 billion annually.
Kraig Biocraft has reason to be excited about spider silk. The silk produced by spiders is among the strongest fibers produced in nature. Spider silk is also extremely elastic and resilient. Depending upon how measurements are made, spider silk is nearly as strong, or in some cases even stronger, than steel or Kevlar.
Spider silk has several properties that are unmatched even by the most exotic of man-made fibers. Spider silk has the unbeatable capacity to absorb energy and to dissipate this energy in a very controlled manner. This unique property makes this fiber especially attractive for applications where energy absorption is a key design factor.
Another significant property of spider silk is its extreme resistance to breaking under strain. In this area, it outperforms virtually ALL known natural and synthetic fibers. If Kraig Biocraft’s research is successful and they are able to produce a spider silk product, it may well be a real money-maker for the company. Estimates are that such a product may immediately be worth from several hundred million dollars to as high as one billion dollars. A 2% penetration of the “super fiber” market would likely be worth in excess of $3 billion.
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