It may not be obvious what links all of these creatures, but it is their all-natural adhesiveness.
We have for some time been tracking the very wide range of naturally occurring “bio-glues” or other adhesives (or adhesive mechanisms) that are being evaluated to either be used directly as medical/surgical adhesives or be used as models to create bio-inspired med/surg adhesives.
We add another (shown first) in the remora fish, which has long demonstrated a remarkable ability to adhere to sharks and other marine animals without causing apparent damage to their tissues and has joined the ranks of the other bio-glues under study — at least to consider their possible development as commercial products, including for medical/surgical adhesion.
- remora fish
- mussels
- geckos
- crab shells
- burrowing frogs
- spider webs
- porcupine quills
- sandcastle worms
- C. crescentus bacteria
- parasitic worm (pomphorhynchus laevis)
Most of these have simply been preliminarily investigated as to why they have such high strength, why they adhere under certain challenging conditions and other reasons.
MedMarket Diligence tracks the actual medical/surgical markets for fibrin and other sealants, glues, hemostats, tapes, staples/sutures/clips and anti-adhesion products in Report #S190.
