We eased the conflicts between economy and environment with our sustainable pre-dyed spider silk fiber and dyes for cellulose and keratin-based materials. The project was approached through the double diamond design process. Our team learned about the textile dyeing industry from different stakeholders through qualitative interviews with local Bangladeshi residents in industrial areas, factory workers, owners, and corporate social responsibility specialists from the leading textile brands in Finland. Human practices research gave us a solid ground of knowledge, which we can apply in our product SILKOLOR.

With synthetic biology, the raw material and fiber dyeing process are combined into a single step, which can be locally produced and regulated better. Our product also reduces environmental impacts with less energy, transportation and water consumption. With SILKOLOR, we envisioned the traditional linear textile value chain can be better-shaped into a more ethical one and generate circular economy.

We developed workshops and activities in a local science park where children could learn about synthetic biology while playing. Requesting feedback, we found out that people found the workshops fun and informative. The instructions for our workshops are available for other teams on our wiki. During the workshops, we also answered any questions and concerns people had about synthetic biology.

We also gave seminars to high school students and students in universities that haven’t participated in iGEM to inspire them to continue to study biology and to expand the iGEM community to other regions of Finland, because only two Finnish universities have participated before. Additionally, we gave a seminar to the general public and answered the audience’s questions about synthetic biology. We aimed to make the materials easy to understand for people without a scientific background.

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed in order to find out the heat stability of our fusion constructs. The simulated parts of our constructs were the ones for which we did not have any data from literature regarding the heat resistance. In particular, our red fluorescent protein (mRFP) and keratin binding domain (KBD) were simulated between 298 K and 358 K. Before the simulations, some challenges needed to be overcome, including missing force field parameters for the chromophore (which is formed by three neighboring amino acids) of mRFP and missing internal residue coordinates for KBD.

The goal of the simulations was to help us choose the best purification strategy once we were able to produce the fusion proteins. Based on the results, we decided to use a purification protocol where the proteins are heated up to 343 K, which is faster and cheaper than using His-tags and Ni-columns for purification.

SILKOLOR is a life-centered design product to ease the conflicts between economy and environment, caused by textile dyeing. We generated and iterated a value proposition based on insights from solid stakeholder research, including the stakeholder analysis, structured and thematic interviews, and expert consultation. We uncovered pains, gains and desires of stakeholders in textile industry. To deliver the needs, the product was developed with synthetic biology after the benchmarking was done.

With chromoproteins and spider silk proteins engineered inside E.coli, the raw material and fiber dyeing process are combined into a single step, which can be locally produced and better regulated. It also reduces the environmental impacts of transportation and energy and water consumption. With SILKOLOR, the reputation and environmental contribution of fashion companies can be visibly promoted. We envisioned our product will accelerate the transition from the traditional linear textile value chain to a more ethical one and generate circular economy.