Silk is used as a structural material in nature such as a lifeline of spider and a shell of silkworm. The thickness of spider silk is approximately one tenth of human’s hair. The spider silk with 3‐mm thickness can support a man with 60 kg. Silk seems very attractive when used as structural material, however, it is difficult to synthesize an artificial silk that has both strength and extensibility like native silk. Spiders and silkworms are known to possess sophisticated spinning mechanism. I would like to share mysteries in the natural spinning systems in spiders and silkworms and take advantage of the system to synthesize artificial silk for industrial applications.

FACULTY RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2020/ Shinshu University Faculty of Textile Science and Technology