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Research

The oceans abound with a fascinating array of materials produced by nature. Barnacles cement themselves to rocks. Starfish use adhesives for locomotion. Oysters aggregate to build reef structures. Mussels generate an impressive adhesive that can bond to nearly any surface. Our laboratory is working to understand how such biological materials function, design synthetic mimics, and develop applications for these materials.

Click on the following figures to find out more about each research project.

mussels

Characterization of biological materials

Biomimetic polymers

Biomimetic polymers for new materials

applications

Applications of marine biological materials

 

We thank the following organizations for financial support of this work:

Office of Naval Research National Science Foundation

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