Marine Biological Materials: Characterization, Synthetic Mimics and Applications
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Biomaterial-producing organisms: Barnacles, starfish, limpets and kelp.
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Biomaterial-producing organisms: Barnacles, starfish, limpets and kelp.
The oceans abound with a fascinating array of materials produced by nature. Barnacles cement themselves to rocks. Starfish use adhesives for locomotion. Oysters create aggregate reef structures. Mussels generate an impressive adhesive that can bond to nearly any surface, including Teflon (polytetrafluoroethylene, PTFE). Our laboratory is working to understand how such biological materials function, design synthetic mimics and develop applications for these new materials.
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Marine mussel adhesive has provided a good starting point for studies in our group. These animals produce a mixture of adhesive proteins, each containing the unusual amino acid 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA). Once applied to a surface, these proteins cross-link to yield the final, cured adhesive. Results from our laboratory indicate that iron may be key to this cross-linking approach of material synthesis.
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A marine mussel adhering to glass.
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Recently, we have been developing synthetic materials by using biology as a starting point for the design. For example, we can mimic the complex adhesive proteins of mussels with a simple polymer backbone, into which we incorporate biological cross-linking chemistry.
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| Complex proteins simplified into synthetic polymers. |
We have had recent success with the simple styrene-3,4-dihydroxystyrene copolymers shown below. These new polymers cross-link in a manner analogous to the proteins produced by mussels. These polymers also exhibit strong adhesion.
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| New adhesive polymers: poly[styrene-co-(3,4-sihydroxystyrene)] |
Use of bulky polymers allows access to large quantities of materials and the ability to tailor the composition as different properties are desired.
A cow tooth adhered to a metal substrate using new polymeric adhesives we have developed. |
Ongoing studies include growing marine organisms, biochemical studies with extracted proteins, preparation of peptide models, synthesis of new polymers, and characterization of materials properties. We are also designing applications for both the natural materials and our synthetic mimics. Development of antifouling surfaces, surgical adhesives, dental cements, and rustproof coatings are some of the applications development efforts currently in progress.
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Our aquarium system for growing marine organisms. |
We thank the following programs for financial support of this work:
Office of Naval Research
National Institutes of Health for a Graduate Fellowship to Cristina Matos-Perez
Showalter Trust
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation through a Research Fellowship
