Gecko feet hold clues to creating bandages that stic... ( Akron Ohio August 9 2012 Scientists...)

Gecko feet hold clues to creating bandages that stick when wet

Date:8/9/2012

Akron, Ohio, August 9, 2012 Scientists already know that the tiny hairs on geckos' toe pads enable them to cling, like Velcro, to vertical surfaces. Now, University of Akron researchers are unfolding clues to the reptiles' gripping power in wet conditions in order to create a synthetic adhesive that sticks when moist or on wet surfaces.

Place a single water droplet on the sole of a gecko toe, and the pad repels the water. The anti-wetting property helps explain how geckos maneuver in rainy tropical conditions. However, saturate that same toe pad in water or drench the surface on which it climbs, and adhesion slips away, the researchers say.

As researcher Alyssa Stark, a doctoral candidate in UA's Integrated Bioscience Program and research team leader explains, geckos don't fall from trees during downpours in the tropics. What, then, makes them stick? The team hopes to make that discovery in order to create synthetic materials that hold their grip in wet environments, such as inside the body, for surgical procedures.

Findings by Stark, Timothy Sullivan, who received his bachelor's degree in biology in May, and Peter Niewiarowski, UA professor of biology and integrated bioscience, are published in the August 9, 2012 issue of The Journal of Experimental Biology.

"We're gathering many clues about how geckos interact with wet surfaces and this gives us ideas of how to design adhesives that work under water," says Ali Dhinojwala, UA department of polymer science chair and Morton professor of polymer science. "Nature gives us a certain set of rules that point us in the right direction. They help us understand limitations and how to manipulate materials."

Stark and her research team members tested gecko toe hair adhesion in a series of scenarios: dry toe pads on dry, misted and wet surfaces and soaked toe pads on dry, misted and wet glass. The soaked toe pads demonstrated low to no adhesion proportionately with t
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Contact: Laura Massie
massie1@uakron.edu
330-972-6476
University of Akron
Source:Eurekalert

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