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Article: Hearing to Decide Role of Chatham, Mass., Scientist in Spider-Silk Scam.
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
- Article date:
- December 13, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Dec. 14 -- Motivated by a potential gold mine of profits, scientists have tried and failed for decades to duplicate the complex genetic coding of spider silk in order to reproduce one of the world's strongest, softest, and most flexible substances.
So when San Francisco venture capitalist Nigel Fleming saw the laboratory notes of a Chatham scientist who said he had succeeded, Fleming was ecstatic. He quit his job, advanced $100,000 of his own money to complete research, and signed on as chief executive of a new company to rush spider silk into commercial production. Over the next three years, he turned over $2.7 ...