Judge Memorial grad works with spider silk at USU lab

Photo courtesy of Amaia Horyna and Randy Lewis of Utah State University

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Judge Memorial alumna Danielle Gaztambide uses goats in her research of spider silk materials.

By Amaia Horyna

Special to the Intermountain Catholic

SALT LAKE CITY — Believe it or not, there is such a thing as a spider-goat – although they can’t climb on walls nor shoot web from their hooves.

Danielle Gaztambide, Judge Memorial Catholic High School Class of 2012, has played a role in the research of this genetic experimentation. She is a master’s student at Utah State University and is working in Dr. Randy Lewis’s spider silk lab.

The purpose of the experiments they are conducting is to produce the same proteins that spiders use to spin their silk. The spider that the research is based off of is called the Nephila Clavipes. This species of orb-weaver lives in both North and South America. Because these spiders are cannibalistic, it is not an option to farm them, so to produce the silk, they use different hosts. These hosts are alfalfa, E. coli bacteria, silkworms and goats.

Ethical debate has been called to attention during experimentation. Because they are genetically modifying living organisms, many people in the scientific community have voiced their concerns about how far this project is willing to go to get the results they desire.

Danielle responded by saying, “The scientific community is very responsible in that way, in that we try to tailor our research and our technologies to do a lot of good. I think that is worth it and I think that because it has the potential to do so much good it would be a shame to not harness the power that we have and the power of genetics.”

The goats are not affected negatively by the genetic modification. All of the modification takes place in the embryo, before the goats are born. The goats that are born with the modification only have one extra gene, which then leads to them having extra proteins in their milk.

Danielle got involved in this project about three years ago, when she was a sophomore in college. The majority of her undergraduate research was in spider silk materials. Specifically, she worked with adhesives for biomedicine. Because Danielle is a young researcher, she has had to overcome many personal hurdles. She is surrounded by those who are more experienced than she is; being so young and inexperienced has been a challenge she has had to work through.

That hasn’t stopped her, though. She also points out that researching something new in this science is difficult and she sometimes finds it daunting to remain motivated.

“Research is hard sometimes. Things don’t go your way so, it’s just important to be patient and learn a lot,” Danielle said.

The results of this research could be revolutionary. Spider silk is biocompatible, making it appealing to a multitude of industries. Medical fields, for example, are interested because materials that are used now could be replaced and made better, stronger and less harmful to the human body. The textile industry, as well as industries that use adhesives, is interested because the products of this research include eco-friendly, non-petroleum based adhesives.

“The great thing about this research is that opportunities are endless,” said Danielle, who is optimistic about the possible outcomes of this research. She is also grateful that she is has had the opportunity to play a role in some of the initial experimentations with spider silk.

She believes that attending Judge Memorial CHS was essential and the opportunities offered to her have tremendously helped her get to where she is today.

Amaia Horyna is a sophomore at Judge Memorial Catholic High School and a writer for the Bulldog Press, a Judge Memorial student publication.