The goal of this Seed is to develop new materials with unique properties through directed evolution. Through genetic mutation, protein expression, and high throughput materials screening, this Seed is harnessing the power of biological evolution for materials design. Our Seed is developing high throughput protein expression and purification techniques to synthesize sufficient quantities of material for characterization of mechanical and interfacial properties. Parallel efforts are exploring high-throughput screening methods to identify successful mutants within a large genetic library. Our work is developing new materials and understanding how existing biomaterials may have been developed through eons of evolution.