The team started by isolating a bacterial that naturally consumes polyethylene, a common plastic used in single-use applications. They then genetically edited the bacteria to produce an amino acid sequence similar to silk protein.
“What we’re using is a process that’s very similar to brewing beer,” Helen Zha, an assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at RPI, tells Fast Company. “It’s essentially fermentation.”
The silk produced by the bacteria can be used in fabrics, skincare products, and surgical dressings. The concept could be applied to other future applications as well.
“One of the benefits of working with an engineered organism as opposed to an actual spider or an actual silkworm is we can control very precisely the amino acid sequence of the protein that we make,” Zha says. “And that means we can also start to control and tune the properties of the resulting material.”