Bulletproof Skin Stops A Bullet

What if your skin could resist a speeding bullet? Now a new futuristic tissue designed by artist Jalila Essaïdi,  for the project 2.6g 329m/s which reinforces human skin cells with spider silk, can stop a whizzing projectile without being pierced. Although its threads may look fragile, a spider-silk weave is four times stronger than Kevlar, the material used in bulletproof vests.

In the first clip, the bioengineered skin cushions a bullet fired at half speed. But its resistance has its limits: when shot at a full speed of 329 m/s, the bullet pierces the material and travels through it. The same tests were also performed with piglet skin, human skin and human skin fused with regular silkworm silk, which were all penetrated by bullets of both speeds.

An international team worked together to create the new material. First, transgenic goats and silkworms equipped to produce spider-silk proteins spun out the raw material in the synthetic biology lab at Utah State University. The cocoons were then shipped to South Korea, where they were reeled into thread, before being woven into fabric in Germany. The modified silk was then wedged between bioengineered skin cells developed by biochemist Abdoelwaheb El Ghalbzouri at the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. After five weeks of incubation, the hybrid skin was ready for target practice.

According to Assaidi, 

By implementing this bulletproof matrix of spider silk produced by transgenic goats in human skin I want to explore the social, political, ethical and cultural issues surrounding safety in a world with access to new biotechnologies. Issues which arise on the basis of ancient human desire for invulnerability. It is legend that Achilles, the central character of Homer’s Iliad was invulnerable in all of his body except for his heel. Will we in the near future due to biotechnology no longer need to descend from a godly bloodline in order to have traits like invulnerability?

In addition to exploring the material artistically, Essaïdi is also looking into practical uses, such as skin transplants. Spider silk is already being developed by other teams for high-tech applications, which range from artificial corneas to brain implants.

2.6g 329m/s is made possible through the Designers & Artist 4 Genomics Awards and partly through sponsorship from Fisher Scientific. The project suggests interesting materials research that goes beyond the expertise of the Forensic Genomics Consortium Netherlands and which utilises expertise of the Utah State University, Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands Forensic Institute and other Dutch institutions.

Born in 1980, Jalila Essaïdi is a BioArtist who uses Biology and the Life Sciences as an artistic medium, living and working in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Jalila Essaïdi was previously Art Teacher at Fontys Art Academy, Tilburg; Event Manager at Fontys Art Academy, Tilburg; and Owner at Essaïdi Cosmedix, Eindhoven.

New Scientist