Left: Maisha in the lab; Right: Spider silk

Left: Maisha in the lab; Right: Spinning spider silk proteins into fibers

Maisha Prome ‘27

(she/her)

Home Department: Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (Isaacs Lab)

Research Project: Expanding spider silk properties by incorporation of multiple nonstandard amino acids in recoded bacteria

Spider silks are a biomaterial that possess exceptional physical properties, from high tensile strength to toughness to extensibility. Unlike many synthetic polymers, spider silks are also biocompatible and renewable, making them ideal for a wide range of applications in sustainable manufacturing, and medicine.  We can further expand the range of applications by using genetic code expansion technologies to insert non-standard amino acids (nsAAs) into the spider silk protein. By incorporating nsAAs with diverse chemistries, I aim to enhance existing properties (mechanical strength) and encode novel properties (electrical conductivity and flame retardancy) in spider silks. 

Relevant Publications

Shapiro, D.M. et al. (2022) Protein nanowires with tunable functionality and programmable self-assembly using sequence-controlled synthesis.