Development of new chimeric proteins for tissue engineering

Tissue engineering is an emerging ␣eld focused on the development of novel bioactive multifunctional materials that can be used to replace damaged and failing tissues. However, these biomaterials often present several problems such as loss of mechanical and/or biological proper- ties and adverse immune responses. The use of natural polymers, such as proteins, provides a promising solution for these drawbacks. With advances in recombinant DNA technology and biotechnology, it is possi- ble to design and produce new materials with different features by combining domains of different proteins in the same fusion protein. Spider dragline silk proteins have been suggested to have a large poten- tial for many different biomedical applications due to its outstanding mechanical properties. In addition, spider silk is also biocompatible, hypoallergenic and completely biodegradable.