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Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity (sericulture). The shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fibre, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles, thus producing different colors. Silk is produced by several insects; but, generally, only the silk of moth caterpillars has been used for textile manufacturing. There has been some research into other types of silk, which differ at the molecular level. Silk is mainly produced by the larvae of insects undergoing complete metamorphosis, but some insects, such as webspinners and raspy crickets, produce silk throughout their lives. Silk production also occurs in hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ant

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Textile

Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to

Insect

Insects (from Latin insectum) are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part b

Fiber

Fiber or fibre (British English; from fibra) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other ma

Spider silk: a novel optical fibre for biochemical sensing

Desmond Chow Ming Chia, Isabelle Dicaire, Kenny Hey Tow, Luc Thévenaz

Whilst being thoroughly used in the textile industry and biomedical sector, silk has not yet been exploited for fibre optics-based sensing although silk fibres directly obtained from spiders can guide light and have shown early promises to being sensitive to some solvents. In this communication, a pioneering optical fibre sensor based on spider silk is reported, demonstrating for the first time the use of spider silk as an optical fibre sensor to detect polar solvents such as water, ammonia and acetic acid.

SPIE2015

Weaving our way towards a new generation of ﬁbre-optic chemical sensors based on spider silk

Desmond Chow Ming Chia, Isabelle Dicaire, Kenny Hey Tow, Luc Thévenaz

From the spider’s perspective, silk is not only a building material but also a safety net, a weapon and a sensory organ to detect the presence of preys on its web. Indeed, this primeval material has been shaped over hundreds of millions of years by spiders to create a myriad of silk ﬁbre types with different level of toughness, elasticity, stickiness depending on its attributed function in the web. From a human perspective, scientists are currently working on harnessing all the extraordinary properties of this material for applications spiders would never thought of, from biocompatible tissue engineering (enhancement of skin regeneration and nerve guides) to biodegradable electronics and development of specialised textile and composites. However, the potential of using spider silk ﬁbre for chemical sensing has been overlooked. In this communication, we will explore the potential of using spider silk as a new type of ﬁbre optic chemical sensor in a fully bio-inspired approach.

Ieee2016

From spider webs to a fibre-optic chemical sensor

Desmond Chow Ming Chia, Isabelle Dicaire, Kenny Hey Tow, Luc Thévenaz

From the spider’s perspective, silk is not only a building material but also a safety net, a weapon and a sensory organ to detect the presence of prey on its web. For scientists, dragline silk - directly extracted from spiders - is a tough, biodegradable and biocompatible optical ﬁbre. These protein optical threads are made up of millions of repetitive protein sequences and domains that, unlike its silica counterpart, can interact with a multitude of chemical species. In this communication, we will explore the potential of using spider silk as a new type of ﬁbre-optic chemical sensor.

2016

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Basic course in biochemistry as well as cellular and molecular biology for non-life science students enrolling at the Master or PhD thesis level from various engineering disciplines. It reviews essential notions necessary for a training in biology-related engineering fields.