Irina Iachina is the founder and CEO of Biomimica and currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Southern Denmark. She was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Her research has focused on spider silk since 2016, leading to both a master’s degree and a PhD specialising in spider silk and artificial spider silk. She is developing artificial spider silk using microfluidics, a technology that mimics the spider’s silk gland. Ožbej Vidmar, a DTU student, is working with her to investigate potential applications of spider silk in aviation.
They aim to reduce the climate footprint by creating strong and elastic artificial spider silk. We spoke with both innovators about how spider silk could contribute to reducing microplastic pollution and CO₂ emissions while creating healthier solutions.
Where is Biomimica right now in its development — are you still purely in the research phase, or has the company moved beyond that?
Irina: There’s still a lot of research and development ahead of us. We recently received an EIC Pathfinder Challenge Grant as part of a wider consortium, which gives us funding for the next three years. During that time, we’ll be producing our own proteins, spinning more silk, and working on scaling up production.
Why is spider silk such a compelling material to build a company around?
Irina: Spider silk is quite exceptional. First, it’s made entirely of proteins at room temperature, so it’s inherently sustainable. It’s also biocompatible — if you leave it outside and an animal eats it, it can digest it or simply excrete it. Mechanically, it’s remarkable too: some variants can be as strong as Kevlar or steel, while others can be extremely elastic, depending on the proteins involved. Spider silk has shown good biocompatibility and low immunogenicity, and some studies have reported antimicrobial properties.
What are the most promising real-world applications you’re pursuing — across industries, and specifically in healthcare?
Ožbej: It can be used in clothing — textile companies could incorporate spider silk into their garments. Aerospace is another major area of interest at the moment: the industry is looking for lighter, more sustainable materials, as well as materials with useful medical properties, for example for components used in hip replacements. It’s a strong material, and because it’s biocompatible, it won’t harm the body.
Something like catheters, for instance?
Ožbej: Exactly — catheters, tubing, that kind of application.
Does the silk break down inside the body, or does it just remain there without causing harm?
Irina: There was actually a study in which two severed nerve endings were reconnected using spider silk. The nerve regrew, and the body’s own enzymes gradually broke down the silk proteins afterwards. So the body clears it by itself — but even while it’s present, it’s not harmful, and it isn’t recognised as a foreign object in a way that triggers an allergic reaction.
How did you first become interested in spider silk?
Irina: It actually goes back about ten years, to watching Bug Wars on the Discovery Channel, where spiders fought each other using their webs. That got me curious, so I wrote my master’s thesis on spider silk, and later my PhD on the same subject. I also did a three-year postdoc, including a year and a half at MIT, continuing to work on spider silk.
That explains the American accent.
Irina: Ten years of spider silk research will do that.
And what drew you to it, Ožbej?
Ožbej: For me, it’s simply a fascinating material to work with as someone in materials science. It’s still largely undeveloped, and there’s a lot of interest in it, so it’s exciting to explore what we can actually make from it. That’s what keeps me interested.
What’s the next big step for Biomimica as a company?
Irina: Funding is always at the forefront of our minds — we need it to hire more people and move development along faster. One thing we’re particularly focused on is producing smaller sample quantities, especially for the aerospace and medical industries, so we can scale up production and run pilot tests with companies that are interested.
Are you looking to be acquired by a company that would fold your technology into its own business, or do you see Biomimica becoming an independent supplier of the material? What’s the exit strategy, in other words?
Irina Iachina: We want to supply.
Do you see particular challenges at the moment — in Europe, or in Denmark specifically — alongside the opportunities the European environment creates for a company like yours?
Irina: There are certainly challenges, particularly around funding. Because we’re quite research-and-development-heavy, we need substantial funding to move forward. Investors can invest significant amounts, but we need to reach a certain stage before they’re interested. Research funding is available too, but it typically requires a university affiliation. So there’s a real challenge in financing a company that still needs this much fundamental research.
What about regulation? Is the path to commercialisation heavily regulated for you — the way, say, medical device companies need CE marking or FDA approval to enter certain markets? What applies in your case?
Irina: We haven’t looked closely into medical-industry regulation yet. We started by focusing on textiles, which is a somewhat easier path since it’s essentially replacing one fibre with another. But we’ll definitely need help navigating the regulatory requirements going forward — they vary a great deal by industry, since each one has its own standards.
Ožbej: Aerospace, for example, has its own specific regulations, and we’ll need to work out how to meet them if we want to do business in that sector. So it’s something we’ll look into and work towards as we go.
