Elvin and his team developed the wonder rubber by first isolating part of the gene — essentially a piece of DNA — that produces the resilin protein in the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster.
Then they inserted that piece of DNA into bacterial cells. When the bacteria reproduced, their cells automatically copied the resilin gene present and manufactured a runny solution of resilin protein.
Next, the researchers mixed the protein with another chemical and treated it for 20 seconds under a special light that caused molecules in the protein solution to bond. The result was a rubbery solid.
In lab tests, the scientists found that their synthetic resilin could be stretched to three times its length without breaking. When allowed to relax, it recovered 97 percent of its original state. As a comparison, elastin, the protein that gives human skin, blood vessels, tendons and ligaments their elasticity, recovers to 90 percent.
The new material also loses very little energy when stressed. Superballs lose 20 percent of their energy with each bounce. A ball made from Elvin's resilin could bounce almost indefinitely.
But although natural resilin is incredibly stretchy, it is not very strong and nature weaves it together with collagen, which prevents it from overstretching. The same thing might be necessary with synthetic resilin, said biochemist, Fred Keeley, associate director and senior scientist for the Research Institute at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario.
"The problem is making it into something that we can use in a practical way," he said. "The trick is in the fabrication."
Elvin currently has plans to develop second- and third-generation resilin-like material that could find its way into dozens of applications. Those include high-efficiency rubber used in machines that perform repetitive operations; spinal disc implants that must support 100 million flexes during a person's lifetime; substitutes for heart and blood valves; and even the heels of running shoes.
