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Marine Adhesives: From Molecular Dissection to Application

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Protein-Based Materials

Part of the book series: Bioengineering of Materials ((BOM))

Abstract

Much has been written about the need for adhesives that bind surfaces in the presence of water, are compatible with living tissues, and are durable yet in some applications ultimately biodegradable (Abbott, 1992; Strausberg and Link, 1990). The sea is full of practitioners of such adhesive strategies. Barnacles, reef worms, oysters, foraminifera, mussels, etc all have life histories that depend upon their secure attachment to solid substrata for survival (Harris, 1990). About thirty years ago, the United States Office of Naval Research initiated an antifouling program whose goal was to identify the adhesive molecules of marine foulers so as to specifically intervene in their attachment. A few years later, a materials program at the National Institutes of Health joined the initiative on marine bioadhesives with the aim of imitating them for numerous biomedical applications (Anon, 1968). This has not changed the nature of the research but has certainly doubled the perceived impact of any fully characterized adhesive strategy. This article aims to lay out the status of this characterization with diverse organisms that share similar bioadhesive strategies and to describe the various applications that are developing from this knowledge.

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  1. Steven W. Taylor
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  2. J. Herbert Waite
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. RD & E Center, U.S. Army Natick, 01760-5020, Natick, MA, USA

    Kevin McGrath

  2. Biotechnology Center Department of Chemical Engineering, Tufts University, 02155, Medford, MA, USA

    David Kaplan

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© 1997 Birkhäuser Boston

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Taylor, S.W., Waite, J.H. (1997). Marine Adhesives: From Molecular Dissection to Application. In: McGrath, K., Kaplan, D. (eds) Protein-Based Materials. Bioengineering of Materials. Birkhäuser Boston. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4094-5_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4094-5_7

  • Publisher Name: Birkhäuser Boston

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-8649-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-4094-5

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