My name is Kevan Chu, and I am a Biochemistry major in the College of Arts and Sciences. I studied abroad at NYU Sydney in the Spring of 2015, and took Principles of Biology II with Dr. Sean Blamires as a major elective and veterinary school prerequisite. Additionally, I had the pleasure of working in his lab at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), which not only helped develop my research and laboratory skills and techniques, but also broadened my horizons of Australian culture and wildlife.


Q. How did you first get involved in research on spiders?
It is actually quite complicated. Earlier in my career I worked on turtles and lizards, and crabs. My Masters project at Northern Territory University in Darwin was on nesting sea turtles. I then started a Ph.D. project on River Turtles at the University of Sydney. A year in, however, it was evident that, for reasons out of my control, it wasn’t going to be possible to do the project I wanted to do. I needed a project that I could do in a short space of time (as I’d wasted a year already). I noticed there was a large population of St Andrew’s cross spiders (Argiope keyserlingi) living on the University of Sydney campus. I therefore decided to do a project on their ecology on the University campus. One of the things I tested was how their web architecture varies when they feed on different types of insects. It was this that I examined more closely in my first postdoc at Tunghai University in Taiwan. I then started focusing more and more on variations in silk properties, leading to my research now concentrating very heavily on silk.
Q. What instruments are involved in your research?
Probably the coolest aspect of researching silk is the range of instruments you can use (additional to notebooks, rulers, computers, etc.) to measure silk mechanical properties, micro structures and so on. I use a motorized spooling machine to draw silk from live spiders. I also use highly sensitive tensile testing machines to determine silk mechanical properties. I am now using Atomic Force Microscopy to look at silk surface structure and mechanics at micro-scales. I am developing projects that use Nuclear Magnetic Resonance to examine the structures of silk proteins. I have ongoing projects with the Australian and Taiwanese Synchrotron Centres in which I use synchrotron (particle accelerator) derived x-rays to examine silk crystal structures. I intend to do spider silk genomic studies, too. In my work on spider body and silk coloration I use instruments such as a spectrophotometer to measure the intensity of light of different wavelengths emitted off objects.
Q. While I was assisting in your research, your lab used spiders of genera Nephila and Argiope. What is the reason behind this, and are there any other genera that you have worked with?
These genera, Nephila and Argiope, are commonly used in spider silk and web research because they: (1) are large bodied orb weavers so store a lot of silk that can reasonably easily be extracted, (2) keep well in the lab for a long time on standard diets, and (3) are often abundant on or near University campuses, at least they are in Sydney. These qualities make them good “model” organisms for research. If I am investigating how silk generally responds to diet or some another treatment I’ll use these genera. I have, however, used a variety of other spider genera in my research. To compare the silks of different orb weavers in Taiwan I also used members of the genera Cyrtophora, Leucauge and Cyclosa. A similar study in Australia also used Araneus, Eriophora and Phonognatha. I have used Latrodectus (widow spiders and redbacks) for various experiments and genetic analyses. I used a species of Parawixia for pesticide experiments in Uruguay. I have started projects comparing the silks of a range of spiders that don’t build webs, such as Dolomedes (fishing spiders) and Heteropoda (Huntsmen), web building and non-web building wolf spiders from Uruguay (genus Pavacosa, Agloctenus and Lycosa), and the Tasmania cave spider, Hickmania troglodytes.
Q. Have you come across anything unexpected or surprising in the course of your spider silk research?
Whenever I think I understand something it often turns out that I don’t. For example, I thought that the ratio of the two proteins expressed in spider silk varies with spider diet and this alone explains why silk properties vary with diet. It turns out, however, to be a lot more complex, and spiders seem to spin different types of silks on different diets regardless of the proteins expressed. Rather than being a form of disappointment, however, it’s these kinds of surprises that keep me keenly interested in the subject.
Q. Your research has taken you to other countries, such as Taiwan and the United States. Would you say your research has expanded your worldview? Is your work performed abroad similar to what you have done in Australia?
The answer to the first question is yes, definitely. When you work day-in-day-out in a foreign country, catching local transport, using local shops, etc., you realize that people the world over don’t differ much despite differences in geography, customs, language, and so on. You come to understand that society works best, and people are happiest, when things are fair. I don’t understand greed or discrimination at all.
The answer to the second question is also yes. There are, of course, some logistical and cultural differences that often mean going about things slightly differently, but the great thing about science, as opposed to other disciplines, is that it is unequivocally universal. There is one way of doing science the world over and it is independent from any beliefs, desires or prejudices. This is the reason it is so effective.
Q. We discussed that many aspects of Biology and Ecology can be taken for granted, but the importance of studying these subjects exists nonetheless. Can you elaborate on this?
Motivating students to understand and want to learn about Biology and Ecology is the big challenge for biology/science teachers, especially considering big cities and computers, television and social media are detaching us from nature. An important thing to stress is that humans do not function outside of working ecosystems. Even though we live in cities, we are still a part of nature. If we destroy ecosystems, we will die out like any other animal would, and some have done. I also think the innovations that will drive economies of the future will come from studying biological functions. An example might be buildings based on the thermoregulatory efficiency of termite mounds, or super performance materials based on the functional performance of spider silk.
Q. How can spider silk research be applied to other fields, such as materials science?
This question relates to the point made about studying nature to drive innovation. Spider silk is thought to be nature’s toughest fiber. Advances in silk cloning and electro spinning technologies could lead to spider silk-like materials being used commercially. These might include developing high performance ropes, bullet proof vests, bridge supports and cables. The electrostatic properties and anti-microbial properties of silk are being investigated, and these might find uses in robotics or surgery. I also think that studying spider silk protein and genetic structures will tell us a lot about and spider silk and web evolution and about evolution in general. It also seems that spider webs and silks have important interactions with insects in nature. The community dynamics of this would be interesting to investigate.
Q. What do you find most rewarding about your area of study?
Three of the most rewarding things I have already mentioned: the cool instruments you get to use, the opportunity to travel to different places, and studying something that will (at least should) drive future innovations, and future economies if harnessed and managed. I’d add to that the collaborations that I’ve established. I have met and worked with many great people from a range of professional and cultural backgrounds. I’ve found this very professionally and personally satisfying.
A bit more about Professor Blamires:
Dr. Sean J. Blamires (Ph.D., University of Sydney) is a DECRA Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of New South Wales and a National Science Council Fellow at Tunghai University, Taiwan. His major research interest is the evolution, plasticity and biomechanics of extended phenotypes. He uses spider webs and silks as models to understand how prey types, nutrients, and climatic variables induce variations at nano- to macro-scales. He has collaborative research links with the University of Akron, USA, and the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Centre, Taiwan, among others. He has published over 30 scientific papers in a range of journals, includingCurrent Biology, Biomacromolecules, Journal of the Royal Society Interface, and the Journal of Experimental Biology.