Synthetic Bioproducts Center

Freckles looks like a perfectly normal kid. She has bright eyes, a healthy white pelt and gambols happily with Pudding, Sweetie and her five other siblings, exactly as you might imagine young goats do. Until I fend her off, she's very keen on chewing my trousers. To the casual observer, and to goatherds, she shows no signs that she is not a perfectly normal farmyard goat.

Utah State University scientist Randy Lewis is getting a workout on the media circuit as news of his innovative spider silk research reaches all corners of the globe. The USTAR professor, who joined USU’s Department of Biology this past summer, was featured on CNN Newsroom’s The Big I — ideas, innovation, imagination — segment today [Aug. 30] via a live Skype interview from USU’s Logan campus.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A bio-art project to create bulletproof skin has given a Utah State researcher even more hope his genetically engineered spider silk can be used to help surgeons heal large wounds and create artificial tendons and ligaments.

LOGAN — Utah State University researcher Randy Lewis gained worldwide attention earlier this summer for creating "spidergoats" whose milk contains key proteins used to make large quantities of spider silk.

LOGAN — Utah State University professor Randy Lewis's goats look and behave like most other goats: They nibble on alfalfa and, if you're not careful, they might nibble on your clothes. But these goats could hold the key to revolutionizing everything from tendon replacements and stronger parachutes to safer airbags.