Can spider silk be synthesized for 3D printing with spider silk?

Question

With the recent rise in 3D printing, I keep hearing about more novel ways to use the technology: cell 3D printing, liquid aluminum or plastic 3D printing. For example, this Ted talk deals with printing a human kidney. What interests me is if the current technology can be adapted to print with spider silk. The silk has some amazing properties, and apparently there are multiple types of silk that spiders use.

I found this project: Spiderbot 3D printer. Can spider silk actually be synthesized in large enough amounts to enable 3D printing?

Answer 1

The "...in large enough amounts to enable 3D printing?" part of your question is, I think, still unknown, but spider silk has been being synthesized in transgenic goat milk for quite a long time already, and I suspect that it's now just a matter of time before the answer to your question is an unqualified "yes."

See Macromolecules, 2011, 44 (5), pp 1166–1176, doi:10.1021/ma102291m