Team:UCLA/Notebook/Materials/3 September 2015

iGEM UCLA




Trying a new HFIP Spin

  • 57 mg of lyophilized silk in 228 uL of HFIP
    • we are melting it inside of the syringe body

Dialyzing the LiBr silk

  • dialysis start: 11:30AM
  • change 1: 12:30PM

Trying Honeybee Silk Spin

  • unknown concentration
  • 10 uL/min
  • Tried a variety of coagulation baths
    • 100% Methanol
    • 90% Methanol
    • 80% Methanol
    • 70% Methanol
    • 100% water
    • 100% Isopropanol
    • 70% Isopropanol
  • Note: The silk gels up in the syringe barrel at room temperature.
  • This silk behaves very strangely
    • You see those "ghost" wisps that look like solvent
    • But occasionally, an opaque thread will come out at very high speed
      • It looks like the gel in the barrel
      • It will travel down into the beaker, then disintegrate
  • At higher alcohol concentrations, the "thread" does appear to coagulate and bunch up near the tip (as the literature says it would)
  • I think that the dope is too dilute.
  • But also, the fact that it's gelling in the barrel is disconcerting.