A local team of researchers says it has developed a technology to artificially create spider dragline silk proteins that can be used to make ultra-strong synthetic fibers.

The team at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) said they used a new metabolic engineering process to produce the fiber that has tensile strength superior to that of high-grade steel.

Artificial spider fiber can be used for military and medical purposes.

The achievement was published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Science.