News

We’re excited to share our latest paper, now published in PNAS — and a strong way to close out the year with paper #10 from the lab. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2523198122 In this study, we address a long-standing question in spider silk biology: how do soluble, intrinsically disordered silk proteins transition through liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) into highly ordered, β-sheet-rich fibers? By combining residue-specific solution NMR, DNP-enhanced solid-state NMR, molecula...

Our review “Prey-wrapping spider silk as a model for tough and adaptable protein materials” is now in press at Communications Materials. https://www.nature.com/articles/s43246-025-01039-z While most spider silk research has focused on dragline silk, aciniform (prey-wrapping) silk is actually the toughest silk spiders produce, yet it has remained comparatively underexplored. In this Review, we synthesize work spanning solution and solid-state NMR, Raman spectroscopy, microscopy, mechanics, an...

Thrilled to share that our PNAS Nexus paper is now online as an Advance Article , the culmination of more than five years of work. “Sequence-Encoded Tubular Architectures in Disordered Spider Silk Proteins Revealed by Multiscale Simulations and NMR” https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/12/pgaf378/8363280?login=true This project started with a simple question that has puzzled the spider silk field for decades: How can these massive, intrinsically disordered spidroin proteins s...

“Distinct Dimerization Mechanisms in Silkworm and Spider Silk Proteins Revealed by Mass Photometry” https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.jpclett.5c02335 Led by our PhD students Hannah Johnson (our lab) and Herman Dhaliwal (Garmann Lab, SDSU) — equal contributors — with expert guidance from Prof. Rees Garmann. Our team shaped the overarching questions and provided the native silk dope samples, while the Garmann lab did the heavy lifting with the mass photometry experiment...

Great time this weekend at UC Irvine attending the SoCal Users of Magnets (SCUM) Conference 2025!Our group had the opportunity to share exciting new research:Kevin Chalek (Postdoc) — Pushing the Boundaries of Solid-State NMR for Understanding Dragline Spider Silk StructureYuan Li (Postdoc) — Calcium Environments, Proton Defects, and Facet-Dependent Fluoride Interactions in Hydroxyapatite Nanostructures Probed by Multinuclear Solid-State NMRAli Kiaeefar (PhD Student)&...

Excited to share our latest work with Prof. Rae M. Robertson-Anderson (USD) just accepted in Acta Biomaterialia: “Local viscoelasticity of denaturing spider silk dope is governed by dynamic hierarchical intermolecular interactions” Special shout-out to the lead experimentalists: Karthik Peddireddy (Rae’s postdoc), who spearheaded the optical tweezers microrheology,Hannah Johnson (my recently graduated PhD student), who carried out the spider dissection and dope prep experiments. Together...

New paper out in Science Advances: a library of synthetic carbohydrate receptors (SCRs)—small molecules that bind viral N-glycans—blocks viral entry across coronaviruses, paramyxoviruses, and filoviruses, with single-dose protection in a severe SARS-CoV-2 mouse model. Our team was a small but significant part of this: David Onofrei collected and we analyzed saturation transfer difference (STD)-NMR data to verify direct engagement of the SCR with the SARS-CoV-2 spike recep...

Our lab had a great time yesterday at the Frontiers in Soft Matter and Macromolecular Networks conference at the University of San Diego! PhD students presented their research on silk protein structure, function, and assembly: Alexia de Loera – Structural Insights into the GGX Domain of Spider Silk MaSp1 Using Solution NMR and Molecular ModelingAli Kiaaefar – Conformational Structure, Dynamics, and Assembly of Native Silkworm Silk Protein by Solution NMR and ModelingDavit Alimbarashvili �...

Kicked off the new semester at SDSU by hosting Prof. Chris Lorenz (King’s College London) and his postdoc Dr. Fran Thomas for a week of collaboration on our AFOSR project, “Elucidating the Intrinsically Disordered State, Supramolecular Assembly and Protein Condensates in Natural Materials Formation.” Even in the hectic first week of classes, Chris and Fran made a big impact:Chris delivered a fantastic seminar, “Peptide and Protein Interactions Across Scales: Molecular Dynamics Perspe...

This August and September we wrapped up another successful summer hosting Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP) interns through our DOD–ARO funded project: “Structural Biology of Aciniform Spider Silk Guides Biomimetics for a New Class of Biomaterials”. We were fortunate to work with a talented group of students:• Undergraduate participants: Fatimah Ali and Alexa Flores• High school participants: Jamie Carter and Jaden Ma Throughout the summer, students gained authentic hand...

In early August, the lab held its annual summer gathering — traditionally our Lab BBQ, but this year we traded the grill for a delicious Italian feast! Thanks to Jen, our PI’s wife, the team enjoyed homemade lasagna, baked ziti, antipasto, and an impressive lineup of desserts contributed by our generous students. It was a fantastic spread that more than made up for the lack of a grill. We were also thrilled to welcome back several lab alumni, now working in local biotech compani...

In July the lab attended the 2nd Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Silk at Bryant University in Smithfield, RI! Our lab was out in full force — research scientist David Onofrei, postdoc Kevin Chalek, graduate student Alexia de Loera, and even the PI all presented posters. Alexia also gave a short talk on her poster at the GRS, and David delivered a short poster talk as well.We covered a wide range of silk science: And a PI poster on prey wrap spider silk biomimetics informed by nat...

Recently wrapped up an exciting and inspiring week at the ACS Spring 2025 Conference right here in San Diego!Our lab had a fantastic presence, with postdocs Yuan Li and Kevin Chalek delivering great talks on:Solid-State NMR of morphologically distinct hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (Yuan)Spider silk fibers and their structural insights via SSNMR (Kevin)We also had a strong poster showing from our grad students:Alexia de Loera, Lado Shapakidze, Davit Alimbarashvili, an...

Excited to share a new focus review just published in Polymer Journal in collaboration with Thomas Scheibel’s group at the University of Bayreuth! https://fiberlab.deOver the past decade, our lab at SDSU has been investigating the structure, storage state, and assembly mechanisms of native spider silk proteins (spidroins), while the Scheibel group has led the way in producing and characterizing recombinant silk systems.This review brings those threads together!We highlight:Our joint NM...

The lab has new paper out in Ultramicroscopy! Led by recent PhD graduate student Hannah Johnson, the paper lays out a protocol for NS-TEM of native spider silk protein micelle-like assemblies extracted directly from the spinning dope of spiders. Spider silk proteins prior to spinning are very sensitive to aggregation and preserving the native structure under EM staining conditions is challenging. Commonly used stains such uranyl acetate induce fibril formation because the stain is acidic and aci...

The lab has two openings this coming summer for high school (HS) students and two openings for undergraduate (UG) researchers. These research internships will occur in June, July and August and require ~300 hr of total committed time. These positions are funded by the Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP) and interns will work on spider silk research projects. For more information and to apply, see links below. Please feel free to reach out to me directly if you have any additional questions ...

Holland Lab has a new manuscript out in Langmuir titled: “Aspartic Acid Binding on Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles with Varying Morphologies Investigated by Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy and Molecular Dynamics Simulation”. The paper illustrates the significant impact nanoscale morphology has on biomolecule surface binding and organization. The study was led by recent lab PhD graduate and now lab post-doc, Yuan Li. Yuan used a bevy of SSNMR methods to structurally characterize aspartic ac...

The lab has a new paper out in Advanced Functional Materials titled: “Unraveling the Molecular Origin of Prey-wrapping Spider Silk’s Unique Mechanical Properties and Assembly Process Using NMR”. Prey wrap spider silk exhibits high extensibility and superior toughness compared to other types of spider silk and is a promising target for biomaterials design. In this paper, the lab combines mechanical testing, solution NMR on native glands, SSNMR on spun fibers and AlphaFold struct...

SDSU Graduation was this past weekend. Proud of the two most recent PhD students from the Holland Lab, Yuan Li and Hannah Johnson!!! Yuan’s thesis is on: “Elucidating Bio-Nano Interface Atomic Structure in Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles with SSNMR”. Hannah’s thesis is on: “The Role of Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation in Spider Silk Formation”. A busy summer ahead getting all of their awesome manuscripts out!!!...

Julian and Yuan were awarded Outstanding Research Awards by the SDSU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Julian was awarded his for Outstanding Undergraduate Research and Yuan for Outstanding Research at the PhD level. Julian’s research work is focused on molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of spider silk proteins. Yuan is working on Bio-Nano interface atomic structure in hydroxyapatite nanoparticles with SSNMR. Congratulations Julian and Yuan!!!...

For anyone interested in our latest research results on spider silk formation, a link to a recent talk is provided below. The talk was given as part of the Computational Science Research Center (CSRC) Colloquium series at SDSU. The title was “Integrating Experimental Biophysics and Computational Tools to Elucidate Spider Silk Formation”. In recent years, we have significantly grown the computational and simulation aspect of our silk research efforts to include coarse grained and atom...

The Holland Lab attended the Experimental NMR Conference (ENC) at Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, CA https://www.enc-conference.org/Conference-2024. This is the premier conference in experimental magnetic resonance including solution and solid-state NMR and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The lab gave two talks and presented three posters. Lab post-doc, Dr. Kevin Chalek’s talk was on Sunday (4/7) in the Young Scientist Symposium titled “Studying Sidechain Interactions ...

The Holland Lab was awarded a new DOD-ARO grant this month! The grant is titled: “Structural Biology of Aciniform Spider Silk Guides Biomimetics for a New Class of Biomaterials”. The project will focus on understanding prey wrap spider silk structure and assembly including its unique hydration-induced cross-linking property. The work will rely heavily on a combination of solution and solid-state NMR together with XRD and MD modeling to understand the holistic aciniform silk assembly ...

The lab has just published a new paper on spider silk structure in ACS Biomacromolecules! While the ordered domains of spider silk fibers have been well characterized (beta-sheets), little is known regarding the more disordered (non-beta-sheet) domains. In this paper we explore Pro-containing beta-turn regions where we elucidate ring packing interactions with SSNMR and MD simulation in collaboration with Chris Lorenz at King’s College London. Holland Lab Post-doc Kevin Chale...

In October 2023, Prof. Scheibel from the University of Bayreuth, Germany, visited the Holland Lab and SDSU to work on collaborative research project and meet with lab members. Prof. Scheibel also gave a seminar to the Department of Chemistry on synthetic spider silk. For more on Thomas’ Lab see here:...

In December 2023, Prof. Holland attended the AFOSR grant review in Ft. Walton Beach FL. The talk was a transitional talk where Prof. Holland discussed the close out of the lab’s previous grant on spider silk and natural materials research and discussed new research directions for the new grant that just started in September 2023....

In October 2023, the Holland Lab attended the Soft Matter Conference at the University of San Diego. PhD graduate student Hannah Johnson presented her recent work using solution NMR to understand liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of spider silk proteins as an important intermediate step en route to spider silk formation. Post-doc, Dr. Kevin Chalek presented his recent work on using solid-state NMR to probe dragline and prey wrap spider silk structure in the fibrous form. New PhD graduate stu...

In September 2023, the Holland Lab was awarded a new AFOSR grant. The grant is titled: “Elucidating the Intrinsically Disordered State, Supramolecular Assembly and Protein Condensates in Natural Materials Formation”. The grant is for 800K and will fund research in understanding spider silk formation. The grant will focus on the intrinsically disordered state, how silk proteins assemble and an intermediate step triggered by liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) in spider silk formatio...

In August 2023, the Holland Lab was featured in the San Diego Union Tribune. The article was on the front page of the Sunday paper! The article titled: “Rolling in the Money and Talent: SDSU Sets Up as Key Player in Science Scene” was focused on SDSU’s growing research portfolio that totaled 192 M this past year. The Lab’s spider silk research was featured in the article together with some nice pics of spiders and silk collection. The article can be found here: https://ww...

In August 2023, the Holland Lab attended the ACS National Meeting in San Francisco, CA. Prof. Holland gave a talk titled: “Combining Solution NMR and Modeling to Determine Structural Ensembles of Spider Silk Proteins”. The presentation focused on how the lab is combining coarse grain and atomistic molecular dynamic (MD) simulation together with CS-ROSETTA determined structural ensembles to understand spider silk protein structure in solution. The talk was in the Nuclear Magnetic Reso...

In July 2023, the Holland Lab attended the first Gordon Research Conference on Silk at Bryant University in RI. PhD graduate student Hannah Johnson presented her work on using solution NMR to understand liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of native spider silk proteins as an intermediate step in spider silk assembly. Post-doc, Dr. Kevin Chalek, presented his solid-state NMR work on dragline and prey wrap spider silk structure. And, Prof. Holland gave a presentation titled: “Combining Bio...

In June 2023, the Holland Lab was awarded a new NSF-CHE grant. The grant is for 476K and will fund Holland lab research on Bio-Nano interfaces. The grant is titled: “Elucidating Bio-Nano Interface Atomic Structure and Peptide Directed Nanoparticle Formation“. The Holland Lab is developing atomic and molecular level structural understanding of nano-bio interfaces and the influence of nanoparticle curvature, mesoporosity and morphology on biomolecular ligand structure, dynamics and org...

In February 2023, Prof. Holland presented to the NJACS NMR Topical Group. The presentation was titled: “Elucidating Spider Silk Structure and Assembly with NMR”. The seminar focused on how the lab is combining solution NMR, solid-state NMR and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation to understand spider silk formation....

In January 2023, The Holland Lab attended the Annual CSU Biotechnology Symposium in Santa Clara CA. Undergraduates Anikin Domingo and Andy Chua presented on isotope enrichment on spider silk proteins for NMR characterization. Undergraduate Julian Aldana presented his recent work on coarse grain and atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulation to understand spider silk protein structure and assembly. And PhD student Hannah Johnson, post-doc, Dr.Kevin Chalek and Professor Holland presented at the ...

In December 2022, Prof. Holland presented recent work from the lab at the annual AFOSR grant review. The grant and talk is titled: “Hierarchical Assembly of Spider Silk Proteins: Exploring the Structural Biology of Biomaterials from the Atomic to the Mesoscale”. The grant and presentation focused on how the lab is combining biophysical methods including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation to unders...

In October 2022, The Holland Lab was part of the NSF-ICORPS program that is focused on commercialization of academic lab research discoveries. PhD graduate student Hannah Johnson, post-doc Dr. Kevin Chalek and Prof. Holland worked with the ICORPS team at SDSU to develop ideas to commercialize aspects of the labs spider silk research. In the future, this may be the spring board to a start-up company spun out of the lab....

In September 2022, the Holland Lab attended the SCUM conference to present work from the lab that is focused on Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). PhD graduate student Hannah Johnson presented her work on using solution NMR to understand spider silk protein spinning dope. PhD graduate student Yuan Li presented her solid-state NMR work on nanoscale hydroxyapatite. And post-doc Dr. Kevin Chalek presented on solid-state NMR structural characterization of spider silk fibers....

In July 2022, we published "Synthesis and Structural Characterization of Morphologically Distinct Nanoscale Hydroxyapatites" in the Journal of Physical Chemistry...

In a two part trip, Prof. Holland and Dr. David Onofrei first visited the Scheibel Lab at the University of Bayreuth in Germany to work on collaborative research projects focused on synthetic (recombinant) spider silk formation. Prof. Holland gave a presentation on the lab’s NMR spider silk research to the Biomaterials Group and worked with Scheibel and lab members on recombinant spider silk protein structure and assembly. The visit included a week of time to collect 1 GHz NMR data on spid...

Haley Swanson graduated with her PhD and Rich Thai graduated with his master’s of science degree in May 2022. PhD student Hannah Johnson also successfully passed her 3rd year qualifying exam!...

Undergraduate mechanical engineering major Francisco was interviewed about his love of Spider-Man and how it connects to his research in our lab. Check out the full story on SDSU NewsCenter!...

At the end of May 2022, the Holland Lab published a paper titled "Assembly and Thermal-Induced Polymerization of Histidine on Fumed Silica Surfaces" in ACS Earth and Space Chemistry...

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.202170090...

A DOD-funded postdoctoral position is available at San Diego State University in the general area of exploring atomic and molecular level structure and dynamics in spider silk proteins with solution and solid-state NMR together with cryo-TEM and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Developing a fundamental understanding of how spider silk proteins assemble into high performance biomaterials will impact applications in the defense, medical and space exploration sectors. The biochemical transforma...

This will provide Yuan a much needed break from her TA responsibilities this Spring to focus on her hydroxyapatite bio-nano interface project to develop bone mimetics....

This fellowship will support Dillan for the remainder of his PhD....

The AFSOR grant is for 900K to investigate the hierarchical assembly process of spider silk and natural materials in general. The focus is on understanding the molecular and nanoscale design rules for spider silk proteins using a combination of NMR and cryo-EM methods in conjunction with molecular dynamics simulations. This work is being conducted in collaboration with Nathan Gianneschi’s Lab and the University of Northwestern. The ARO grant is for is 365K to study aciniform spider silk as...

Congratulations Haley Swanson for receiving the NASA Minority University Research Education fellowship! This fellowship is renewable for up to three years and is part of ongoing research to study origin of life chemistry....

Congratulations to Dillan Stengel for winning the Jivan and S.C. Tong Endowed Fellowship and the Provost Award for Research Scholarship at the Student Research Symposium!...

Congratulations to Dillan Stengel for winning the Paul G. and Margaret F. Peninger Memorial Scholarship! Also congratulations to David Onofrei who was awarded a Graduate Research Fellow at SDSU!...

Holland Lab receives DURIP equipment Grant for: “Acquisition of a T150 Mechanical Testing System for In situ Structural Characterization of Nanoscale Animal Silks under Strain”...

Dr. Holland will be presenting his talk, “The Molecular Mechanisms of Spider Silk Assembly” at the Sheffield Silk Conference in the UK on July 26th....

Holland Lab receives Course Redesign with Technology Grant to “Redesign General Chemistry, CHEM-200”...

Holland Lab receives CSUPERB Grant on a Faculty-Student Collaborative Research titled “Molecular and Hierarchical Structures Formed by Spider Silk Proteins”...

Holland Lab receives AFOSR Grant to investigate “The Molecular Mechanisms Responsible for the Assembly of Spider Silk Fibers”...

Congratulations to Geri Polido who has completed her Master’s of Chemistry from SDSU. Her thesis, titled, “Investigation the Interactions Between Spider Venom Toxins and Lipid Bilayers” is pending publication....

Congratulations to high school students Jason Provol and Matt Bronars for their poster presentation “Metabalomic Analysis as a Method for Breast Cancer Diagnosis”, presented at the San Diego State Science Fair. They won top awards and the opportunity to represent San Diego at the Intel International High School Science Fair hosted in LA in July....

Mahsa Pahlavanwill be presenting a poster titled, “Synthesis and Structural Characterization of Spider Silk Mini Spidroin Peptide Mimics”...

David Onofrei will be presenting a poster titled “Probing Silk Protein Oligomeric Assemblies in Spider Silk with NMR Diffusion Measurements and Cryo-EM” at the CSUPERB Biotechnology Symposium on Jan 5th....

Dr. Holland will give a talk on “Molecular Mechanics of Spider Silk Assembly” as part of the National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science program in Malang, Indonesia. For more info visit: http://newscenter.sdsu.edu/sdsu_newscenter/news_story.aspx?sid=76251 https://vimeo.com/179396251...

The Holland lab will be presenting at the ACS Conference in San Diego. Dr. Holland’s Talk is titled “Molecular Mechanisms of Peptide and Protein Binding at Nanostructured Interfaces.” Haley Swanson’s Poster is titled “Elucidating the Structure & Assembly of Amino Acids on Silica Nanoparticles.” David Onofrei will be presenting a poster titled, “Investigating the unique structure and physical properties of spider prey wrap silk with electron microscopy and solid-state NMR....

Holland Lab receives SDSU University Grants Program (UGP) Award to investigate “Aciniform Spider Silk as a Novel Biomedical Suture Material.”...

Holland Lab receives second SDSU Presidents Leadership Fund Award to study “Structure of Biomolecules at Nanoparticle Interfaces”...

Congrats to Geri Polido and David Onofrei who will be presenting research posters at the Califonia State University Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology (CSUPERB) Symposium. Geri’s poster is titled “Investigating the Interaction of GsMTx-4 with Lipid Bilayers Using 31P Solid-state NMR, Transmission Electron Microscopy and Thermal Analysis” David’s Poster is titled “Structural Analysis and Characterization of Glandular Spider Silk Proteins.”...

Sponsored by the American Chemical Society and many similar organizations of nations in the Pacific, the 2015 International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies (Pacifichem) occurs every five years. Dr. Holland will be presenting his research on biomaterials at this conference in Honolulu, Hawaii titled, “Monitoring Spider Silk Assembly in vitro with NMR”....

Holland Lab receives DOD-AFOSR Grant to investigate “Spider’s Silk: From Protein-rich Gland Fluids to Diverse Biopolymer Fibers”...

Congratulations to Haley Swanson who will be presenting her research poster, titled “Structural Elucidation of the Nano-Bio Interface: Histidine on Fumed Silica Nanoparticles”, at the American Chemical Society’s Western Regional Conference at CSU San Marcos. Dr. Holland will be talking on “Molecular mechanisms of biomolecule binding at nanostructured interfaces” at the ACS Regional Conference...

Greg Holland receives Grants and Research Enterprise Writing (GREW) Fellowship...

Holland Lab receives SDSU President’s Leadership Fund (PLF) Award to study “Molecular Structure of Spider Venom Neurotoxins and Their Interaction with the Lipid Bilayer”...

Helping to spur interest in STEM fields early in life is an important part of our mission as researchers. In March, Dr. Holland gave a presenation at Gage Elementary in San Diego where students had the chance to see first-hand what research entails. Naturally, students were very excited by spiders shown during the presentation....

The Holland group won travel awards to visit Arizona State University in late March. Dr. Holland receives CSUPERB Travel Award to visit ASU and collect solid-state NMR data for Holland Lab projects. Geri, David and Haley all receive SDSU Graduate Student Travel Awards to visit ASU and collect solid-state NMR data for spider silk, spider venom neurotoxin and nanomaterial projects. March 2015. The research conducted there will help advance all the current research projects on silica nanoparticle...

Greg receives American Chemical Society (ACS) Reviewer award for 2015. This is the second year in a row Greg received this award....