Date of Award:
8-2026
Document Type:
Dissertation
Degree Name:
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department:
Biology
Committee Chair(s)
Justin A. Jones
Committee
Justin A. Jones
Committee
Randolph V. Lewis
Committee
Erin N. Bobeck
Committee
Susannah S. French
Committee
Aaron J. Thomas
Abstract
This dissertation explores two complementary aspects of fibrous protein biomaterials: the characterization of understudied naturally occurring solitary bee silk and cocoons; and recombinant expression and biomaterial formation of recombinant hagfish intermediate filaments (rHIF) and a single Osmia lignaria Say (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) silk protein. Some solitary bee species, which make up about 75% of all bee species, spin silk to construct protective cocoons during development. Despite the importance of silk and cocoons to the solitary bees' life history, their properties remain largely unexplored. This dissertation presents a novel method for isolating and testing individual silk fibers without interfering with the development process, and establishes a protocol to quantify the thickness and puncture resistance of O. lignaria cocoons, providing a foundation for future studies of solitary bee cocoon properties. Recombinant fibrous proteins are attracting growing interest as biomaterials due to scalability, biocompatibility, and tailorable mechanical properties. rHIF protein constructs containing different domain compositions were expressed and utilized to form dry fibers to investigate domain structure-function relationships. This work also reports the first recombinant expression of a single O. lignaria silk protein and the subsequent formation of films, thereby bridging the characterization of naturally occurring solitary bee silk and the development of novel biomaterials. Together, this research advances our understanding of natural protective materials and establishes approaches for engineering fibrous protein-based biomaterials with customizable properties.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Wasserman, Oran, "Fibrous Protein Biomaterials: Characterization of Solitary Bee Silk and Cocoons, and Development of Recombinant Hagfish and Bee Silk Materials" (2026). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present. 825.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd2023/825
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