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Light used to measure the 'big stretch' in spider silk proteins


February 15, 2016

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While working to improve a tool that measures the pushes and pulls sensed by proteins in living cells, biophysicists at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they've discovered one reason spiders' silk is so elastic: Pieces of the silk's protein threads act like supersprings, stretching to five times their initial length. The investigators say the tool will shed light on many biological events, including the shifting forces between cells during cancer metastasis.Full Story

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Johns Hopkins Medicine

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