Sampling efficiency of from healthcare surfaces: culture and nonculture detection methods.

Sponges and swabs were evaluated for their ability to recover dried 1 hour on steel and plastic surfaces. Culture recovery ranged from <0.1% (sponges) to 8.

A protocol for the production of recombinant spider silk-like proteins for artificial fiber spinning.

The extreme strength and elasticity of spider silks originate from the modular nature of their repetitive proteins. To exploit such materials and mimic spider silks, comprehensive strategies to produce and spin recombinant fibrous proteins are necessary. This protocol describes silk gene design and cloning, protein expression in bacteria, recombinant protein purification and fiber formation.