Spider silk could be changing the tides, since it shows fascinating properties from mechanics to bacterial repellence. Further it is sustainable, recyclable and biologically degradable. Especially in health care, spider silk opens fascinating new routes, since its surface is bio-selective: human body cells can grow on and in spider silk scaffolds, but pathogens are repelled, without the need of antibiotics, inhibiting infectious diseases. This feature enables ground breaking new biomedical applications. Prof. Dr. Thomas Scheibel is full professor for Biomaterials at the University of Bayreuth. For 20 years his research focusses on Spider Silk, its production, processing and application. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
