Japan bio venture to sell jacket made with synthetic protein textile english.kyodonews.net

Mass production of the jacket is unlikely before 2021 when Spiber's protein fermentation facility, currently under construction in Rayong, Thailand, is planned to start operation, Sekiyama said.
Based in the middle of rice fields in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, Spiber unveiled the jacket's prototype in October 2015 made with its synthetic spider silk material QMONOS, planning the launch of the product the following year.
But things did not go to schedule, due largely to the spider thread's characteristic of shrinking when it gets wet.
Spiber then changed the course of development from its initial goal of simulating spider silk to creating a new protein material by utilizing enormous genetic data it decoded during its previous research.
Spiber's proprietary technology enables the creation of a diverse range of protein materials, each with different features and forms, by modifying DNA sequences that code for its proteins, it said.