Many researchers today try to create new artificial materials in order to use them in different constructions. Although there are materials such as graphene or kevlar that are very resistant and with many uses. However, the possibility of being able to create materials in laboratories opens up a range of possibilities . This time a new material has been created at the University of Washington.
One team found a method to use bacteria to make synthetic muscle proteins , which could then be put together into fibers to make fabrics and create clothing, protective gear, medical implants or prosthetics.
The advantage of using muscle protein
Although developing artificial materials seems easy, it is not and sometimes the natural elements exceed them. An example of this is the muscles : when attempts have been made to create artificial muscles with materials such as polymers or carbon fiber they have proven to be strong and resistant, but difficult to manufacture and, furthermore, inferior to their natural counterparts.
That is why the group of researchers began to directly manufacture synthetic muscles. To do so, they needed to use three different proteins , although one called titin , which is the largest protein known so far, stands out. This is responsible for acting as a spring and giving elasticity to the muscle. However, being so large, this makes artificial assembly difficult.
Therefore, the team had to engineer bacteria that could create larger proteins from small segments to prevent this from happening.
Once the whole process is finished, the final result shows the creation of much stronger and more resistant fibers. In addition, it is a flexible material, not rigid.
A new material with more resistance than kevlar
Therefore, this new material could have many uses such as for the creation of bulletproof vests , among other security devices. The researchers even claim that it is a material that is more resistant than kevlar.
Finally, it has an extra advantage over other materials made artificially and that is that being made of the same protein as natural muscle fibers, it can be biocompatible , so it could be used for sutures and other uses in the human body. .
They ensure that their production can be both cheap and scalable. They have also ensured that future work protein assembly bacteria could be put to work making other types of polymers for a variety of other applications.
So, this is the result of the creation of a new artificial material that can be used to create different garments that must have a lot of resistance.
