Specific natural proteins such as spider silk have superior properties that can be utilized in sustainable and biodegradable materials to replace petrochemical-derived plastics that pose severe environmental and health challenges. The applications of protein-based materials range from textiles to advanced uses in stimuli-responsive polymers, and drug delivery nanoparticles. The outstanding properties of material proteins arise from their special structural features such as repetitive and disordered structure. The main limiting factor for commercial use of these proteins is that they cannot be produced in their natural hosts in bulk and are extremely difficult to produce heterologously. In this project, I aim to address the bottlenecks in the production of structural proteins using fungus Trichoderma reesei and explore both conventional and unconventional secretion pathways to facilitate the synthesis of these complex structural proteins.

2025

2029