5 things you didn’t know about...bioadhesives
Credit: MedUni Vienna
1. Known for their strength in attaching themselves to skin, ticks have become the focus of researchers at the Medical University of Vienna and Vienna University of Technology, Austria, who aim to chemically recreate the protein-based, bioadhesive substance ticks use to latch on to their prey.
2. As ticks bite through a skin-like membrane, they secrete the adhesive substance.
3. Various organisms, from bacteria to plants and animals, produce chemical substances to anchor themselves to surfaces. Some of these adhesives function better than their synthetic alternatives, withstanding broader temperature ranges and adapting to different environments.
4. Sylvia Nürnberger, from the Medical University of Vienna’s Department of Trauma Surgery and project leader, believes the tick cement could be used to produce a biological adhesive for human tissue. Tendons and ligaments could be anchored to bone without using any metal.
5. Other biological alternatives to current tissue adhesives that have the potential to be developed include substances secreted from certain salamander species and adhesive threads from sea cucumbers.
To find out more see page 16 of the upcoming April issue of Materials World.
