Bulletproof human skin from spider silk and fashion from cow manure: The secret of innovations by a Dutch Bioartist

By cultivating human skin cells on spider silk, bulletproof human skin is created--This science fiction-like project was successful in 2009, and its creator, Jalila Essa?di, a Bioartist and entrepreneur quickly attracted the world's attention.

With a background in art and a deep knowledge of biology, Essa?di is more than just an artist. She has been creating innovations one after another, such as making a new material from cow manure and holding a fashion show, presenting the fashion out of this new material called “Mestic”.

What is the source of her inspiration? And how does she give shape to her ideas? I visited her laboratory in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, where governments and companies bring their problems asking for the solutions.

It all began with a single email

Jalila Essa?di was in a master's course in art education at a college in the Netherlands when she encountered to know the strength of spider silk. She read a paper by Randy Lewis, a molecular biologist at Utah State University in the US, and she learned that spider silk was 10 times stronger than iron and more contractile than nylon.

Lewis’ team combined spider DNA into goat DNA and extracted spider protein from goat milk, from which they produced the tough threads. Because of the spiders' tendency to cannibalize each other to protect their territory, it was difficult to produce the threads directly using large numbers of spiders, so it was produced via goat.

Professor Lewis and his team had the idea of using this spider silk to create bulletproof vests. However, as is often the case with academic research, the silk was never actually put into practical use. This sparked an idea for Essa?di; If they were going to make bulletproof vests, why not go a step further and cultivate human skin cells on the thread to create "bulletproof skin"?

When Essa?di emailed her idea to the professor, his response was enthusiastic: "Oh, great!” To turn this ambitious concept into reality, she gathered the necessary knowledge and skills, including dermatologists from Leiden University in the Netherlands and textile manufacturers from South Korea and Germany. This collaboration led to the launch of the "2.6g 329m/s" project, named after the weight and speed of 22-caliber long rifle bullet that that can be protected by a certain type of bulletproof vest.

In 2009, the project came to fruition, resulting in the creation of a resilient artificial skin capable of withstanding bullets. This groundbreaking creation garnered significant attention, being featured by the world’s media, and received numerous national and international awards.

Mestic: a new material created from cow manure

Using the funds from her awards, Essa?di set up the foundation "BioArt Laboratories" in Eindhoven in 2011. This institution serves as both a research center and an educational facility, dedicated to creating new materials and systems from nature through the crossover of art and biology. The central theme that ties everything together is "nature."

In 2014, she was asked by the government of North Brabant in the Netherlands to help solve the problem of cow manure. The country is facing a severe problem due to the excessive number of dairy farmers, and reducing the greenhouse gases emitted by cow manure is an urgent issue.

Essa?di focused on the cellulose included in cow manure. It is a primary component of plant fibers and is widely used in paper, pulp, fabric, and bioplastics. Utilizing cellulose from cow manure could not only address the problem of excessive cow manure but also help preserve forests currently being cut for cotton fields.

To bring her idea to life, she once again sought the cooperation of various stakeholders, including researchers, dairy farmers, water authorities, government agencies, and businesses. She developed a process to dry cow manure, extract the short fibers, and combine them with other materials to create long fibers suitable for making paper and fabric. In 2016, she held a fashion show featuring clothing made from cow manure-derived fabric, “Mestic.” Her goal is to license the technology and mass-produce the clothing using it.

"The ideal future is that we won’t have intensive farming, but reaching that point will take time. So Mestic will be a baby step towards changing the world," says Essa?di.

Cross- disciplinary collaborations

As an innovative creator, Essa?di studied art, art education, and social entrepreneurship at a Dutch university and a business school in England. However, her interests are not limited to these specialties, but extend to a wide range of fields, including the natural sciences. She describes herself as a "Bioartist”.

In developing the project, Essa?di emphasizes the importance of collaboration with experts. “The ideas are mainly coming from me, but I don't work alone," she says. “I do with experts around me.”

According to Essa?di, her attitude toward learning and collaboration came from her childhood experiences. Her father was working for Philips, a Dutch medical and electrical equipment manufacturer. Their home was a gathering place for doctors, researchers, philosophers, artists, and various other professionals who engaged in lively debates. Even as a child, Essa?di, was allowed to participate in these discussions, and she learned from young age that people had diverse backgrounds and everybody had their unique qualities.

"No doctors nor philosophers are almighty. Not everything is absolutely correct. From young age, I learned to question everything, to be curious, and to be open-minded," she reflects.

What is important when gathering people

Even if you come up with a good idea, simply approaching experts blindly will not work. According to Essa?di, "give and take" needs to be considered in order to get people to cooperate on a project.

Essa?di said, “You listen and think what their interests are. What could they benefit from it? How can I connect with them? You look for the common ground, that is the first step.”

For example, with the bulletproof skin project, Randy could see how their material reacts to human skin cells, the dermatologist at Leiden University could study new carriers of skin cells, and for the ballistic department, shooting at the human skin was interesting."

Of course, not everything went smoothly. When she, as a young artist, asked for help, a lot of specialists reacted saying, “Are you crazy? Why should you create a bulletproof human skin?” On the other hand, there were those who pushed her back, saying, “Go! Keep trying!”

“It sounds like an advertising slogan, but ‘You just do it!’.? If one door closes, you look for another door. All you have to do is go your own way with a goal in mind, and don’t care about what other people think."

From combating global warming to rehabilitating the homeless

Currently, Essa?di is the CEO of InSpidere, a bio-venture company, and the representative of BioArt Laboratories.

InSpidere has intellectual property rights to Bulletproof Skin and Mestic and continues to work on research. For Bulletproof Skin, the company is focusing on creating a large area of tough skin, rather than "bulletproof," and is aiming to implant it into skin damaged by burns.

As for Mestic, the company was supposed to have already mass-produced T-shirts with this new material, but government environmental policy has affected the company's financial plans and stalled its operations. Currently, the company is working on a plan to mass produce apparel made of the new material using existing factories and human resources in countries such as India and China, where clothing industry is thriving.

Meanwhile, BioArt Laboratories is currently working on an environmental project using an aquatic fern plant called Azolla. It can grow in a variety of climates, grows rapidly, contains high protein, and can fix atmospheric nitrogen in the form of ammonia and other compounds through symbiosis with cyanobacteria (a type of bacteria that performs photosynthesis). Because of this properties, Azolla is used as a fertilizer, and is also being studied as a plant that could grow in space in the future.

Some species are considered invasive that can seriously impact ecosystems. However, if grown in a controlled environment and applied to building walls and other structures, it could be a global warming countermeasure that absorbs carbon dioxide and nitrogen, according to Essa?di. As a high-protein vegetable, it could also serve as a meat substitute.

At BioArt Laboratories, several other interesting projects are also underway. These include creating candles from fats found in sewage and helping homeless people reintegrate into society by coaching them with horses. Surrounded by 1.6 acres (about 6,500 square meters) of nature in the woods of Eindhoven, Essa?di’s office is always busy with visitors.