Mussel-inspired 'glue' for surgical repair and cancer drug delivery

Mimic of key mussel adhesive protein is harnessed for biomedical applications

2013-02-16

(Press-News.org) When it comes to sticking power under wet conditions, marine mussels are hard to beat. They can adhere to virtually all inorganic and organic surfaces, sustaining their tenacious bonds in saltwater, including turbulent tidal environments.

Northwestern University's Phillip B. Messersmith will discuss his research in a talk titled "Mussel-Inspired Materials for Surgical Repair and Drug Delivery" at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Boston. His presentation is part of the symposium "Translation of Mussel Adhesion to Beneficial New Concepts and Materials" to be held from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 16.

Messersmith also will participate in a news briefing, titled "Mussel-Bound Adhesion," to be held at noon the same day.

He has created new materials that mimic mussel adhesive proteins for three medical applications: sealants for fetal membrane repair, self-setting antibacterial hydrogels, and polymers for cancer drug delivery and thermal destruction of cancer cells.

"Mussel adhesion is a remarkable process involving secretion of liquid protein glue that hardens rapidly into a solid, water-resistant adhesive," Messersmith said. "Several aspects of this process inspire our development of synthetic materials for practical applications. An unusually compelling opportunity for translation of mussel-adhesion concepts is in the repair or reconstruction of tissues in the human body, where water is ubiquitous and its presence represents a challenge for achieving desired outcomes."

Messersmith is a professor of biomedical engineering at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.

The foot of the common mussel (Mytilus edulis) produces a sticky glue for adhering to rocks and other objects. Key to its adhesiveness is a family of unique proteins called mussel adhesive proteins, which contain a high concentration of the catecholic amino acid DOPA (dihydroxyphenylalanine).

All of Messersmith's biomedical materials contain a synthetic form of DOPA. (He first developed a simple synthetic polymer containing DOPA in 2002.) In his AAAS talk, Messersmith will detail these three medical applications of his materials:

Fetal membrane repair. Premature rupture of fetal membranes can occur spontaneously or in association with a surgical procedure. The membranes have limited ability to heal from these ruptures, and the situation often leads to early labor, premature birth and other serious complications. Messersmith's synthetic polymer is formulated as a rapidly solidifying liquid glue that adheres to the wet tissue and seals fetal membrane defects. His group is collaborating with researchers in Europe to conduct in-vivo testing of their mussel-inspired medical sealants for fetal membrane repair.

Self-setting antibacterial hydrogels. Silver ions possess antibacterial activity at low concentrations, and this has led to interest in incorporating silver into medical devices. Messersmith employs silver both to induce hydrogel cross-linking via catechol oxidation and as a precursor for silver nanoparticle formation. The silver nanoparticles then become embedded within the hydrogel structure, releasing silver ions to produce an antibacterial effect.

Cancer drug delivery and destruction removal of cancer cells. One of Messersmith's polymer designs forms pH-sensitive drug delivery vehicles that are stable and inactive in the bloodstream but are activated in the acidic tumor environment, which liberates the drug. A second design involves modifying the surface of gold nanorods with a mussel-inspired polymer coating, which helps the nanorods target cancer cells. Once at the target, the nanorods are irradiated with near-infrared light to produce highly localized heating that thermally destroys cancer cells.

### Symposium information: "Translation of Mussel Adhesion to Beneficial New Concepts and Materials"
8:30-11:30 a.m. Saturday, February 16
Room 306 (Hynes Convention Center)

News briefing information: "Mussel-Bound Adhesion"
Noon Saturday, February 16
Room 103 (Hynes Convention Center)

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Using transportation data to predict pandemics

2013-02-16

In a world of increasing global connections, predicting the spread of infectious diseases is more complicated than ever. Pandemics no longer follow the patterns they did centuries ago, when diseases swept through populations town by town; instead, they spread quickly and seemingly at random, spurred by the interactions of 3 billion air travelers per year. A computational model developed by Northwestern University's Dirk Brockmann could provide better insight into how today's diseases might strike. Brockmann, an associate professor of engineering sciences and applied mathematics ...

Historic legacy of lead pollution persists despite regulatory efforts

2013-02-16

Efforts to reduce lead pollution have paid off in many ways, yet the problem persists and will probably continue to affect the health of people and animals well into the future, according to experts speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston. "Things have substantially improved with the virtual elimination of leaded gasoline, restrictions on lead paint, and other efforts to limit releases of industrial lead into the environment. But the historic legacy of lead pollution persists, and new inputs of industrial ...

Studying networks to help women succeed in science

2013-02-16

For women in science and research, finding a network of colleagues in their specialized area might be difficult: relevant researchers and activists can be spread across generations, cultures and continents. Finding a mentor within this group proves particularly difficult for young women and minorities. Northwestern University's Noshir Contractor will discuss his network research in a presentation titled "Understanding and Enabling Networks Among Women's Groups in Sustainable Development" at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting ...

Teaching the brain to speak again

2013-02-16

Cynthia Thompson, a world-renowned researcher on stroke and brain damage, will discuss her groundbreaking research on aphasia and the neurolinguistic systems it affects Feb. 16 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). An estimated one million Americans suffer from aphasia, affecting their ability to understand and/or produce spoken and/or written language. Thompson, Northwestern's Ralph and Jean Sundin Professor of Communication Sciences, will participate in a 10 a.m. media briefing on "Tools for Regaining Speech" in Room ...

Modern life may cause sun exposure, skin pigmentation mismatch

2013-02-16

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- As people move more often and become more urbanized, skin color -- an adaptation that took hundreds of thousands of years to develop in humans -- may lose some of its evolutionary advantage, according to a Penn State anthropologist. About 2 million years ago, permanent dark skin color imparted by the pigment -- melanin -- began to evolve in humans to regulate the body's reaction to ultraviolet rays from the sun, said Nina Jablonski, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology. Melanin helped humans maintain the delicate balance between too much ...

Flow of research on ice sheets helps answer climate questions

2013-02-16

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. -- Just as ice sheets slide slowly and steadily into the ocean, researchers are returning from each trip to the Arctic and Antarctic with more data about climate change, including information that will help improve current models on how climate change will affect life on the earth, according to a Penn State geologist. "It is not just correlation, it is causation," said Richard Alley, Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences. "We know that warming is happening and it's causing the sea levels to rise and if we expect more warming, we can expect the sea levels ...

Academics grapple with balancing their research with the need to communicate it to the public

2013-02-16

BOSTON – Researchers today more than ever focus their work on real-world problems, often times making their research relevant to the public locally, regionally and sometimes nationally. But engaging the public in their research can be a daunting task for researchers both professionally and personally. Leah Gerber, an Arizona State University associate professor in the School of Life Sciences and a senior sustainability scientist in the School of Sustainability, has identified impediments to productive science communication and she shared her recommendations at the 2013 ...

Deja vu all over again? Cultural understanding vs. horrors of eugenics

2013-02-16

Why is the world so full of "morons" and "degenerates" and what, if anything, can be done to fix them? These are questions that Robert W. Sussman, PhD, a professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, will explore Feb. 15 as he addresses the 2013 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston, Mass. — one of the world's largest gatherings of scientific researchers. Sussman will deliver a talk on "The Importance of the Concept of Culture to Science and Society" (http://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2013/webprogram/Paper8433.html ...

To feed the world, give women equal rights

2013-02-16

Around the world, at least a billion people are hungry or need better diets. To feed a global population projected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050, we will need to increase food production by as much as 70 percent, most analysts believe. Achieving that goal requires civilization to address overpopulation and overconsumption through a bottom-up movement focused on agricultural, environmental and demographic planning, among other strategies, argues Stanford Woods Institute Senior Fellow Paul Ehrlich (Biology). A crucial first step is to give equal rights to women worldwide, ...

Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital test tool for screening cancer patients for malnutrition

2013-02-16

TORONTO, Feb. 15, 2013—Considering the many things a cancer patient has to think about, it's easy to understand why maintaining proper nutrition may not be top of mind. This can be true, too, at busy outpatient settings where it's often difficult to find the time and resources to test cancer patients for malnutrition. However, researchers at St. Michael's Hospital have found a shorter version of a commonly used nutrition-assessment tool does the job effectively and can potentially improve outcomes for cancer patients. "The full-length test for malnutrition is too ...

The Lancet: Plastic pollution is an underrecognised threat to health, experts warn as they launch a project to track plastics’ health impacts and monitor progress

The Lancet Countdown on Health and Plastics to track impact of plastic production and pollution on human health

Announcing The Lancet Countdown on Health and Plastics

Study unexpectedly finds living in rural, rather than urban environments in first five years of life could be a risk factor for developing type 1 diabetes

Mussel-inspired 'glue' for surgical repair and cancer drug delivery

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: