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Flesh-eating Bacteria Inspires Highly Selective Instant Adhesive
cylonlover writes "A strong and highly selective instant adhesive inspired by the bacterium Streptococcus pyogenes has been developed by Oxford University researchers. S. pyogenes is a common resident of human throats that is normally kept in check by the body's defenses, but when it gets out of control it can cause diseases ranging from strep throat to toxic shock syndrome or flesh-eating disease. By engineering a protein that is central to S. pyogenes' infectious arsenal, the researchers have developed a new superglue that can't be matched for sticking molecules together and not letting go."
No chance this goes badly. None at all.
a new superglue that can't be matched for sticking molecules together and not letting go."
sounds like my mother in law
The team have given the bonding fragments the moniker "SpyCatcher" and "SpyTag" for the larger and smaller fragments respectively. In biochemical research S. pyogenes is unimaginatively abbreviated "Spy,"...
An important attribute for one of the world's strongest adhesives is that SpyCatcher and SpyTag won't bond to fingers - they will only stick to each other. Being the basis of an adhesive, however, the adhesive carriers will have to bond to other materials, as SpyTag and SpyCatcher cannot.
Thus, they found an interesting nano hook-and-loop, but they are yet to solve how to bind the hook and the loop to the parts that need gluing?
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
Hannibal: "Hello, Clarice, nice to have you for dinner. Did you notice the new tapestries? They are made of human flesh. I've been experimenting with this new adhesive you see, to walk on walls and the ceiling. I'm still looking for matching boots."
1. Velcro
2. self amalgamating rubber tape
3. Zippers
4. Gecko tape
Just a few that spring immediately to mind. The one thing they have on common is that they are all used to attach substrates together while only actually adhering to themselves. The strength/utility of adhesion depends on mechanical stresses and application.
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
It ends with the following (where "SpyCatcher" and "SpyTag" refer to chemical components of the adhesive):
An important attribute for one of the world's strongest adhesives is that SpyCatcher and SpyTag won't bond to fingers - they will only stick to each other. Being the basis of an adhesive, however, the adhesive carriers will have to bond to other materials, as SpyTag and SpyCatcher cannot.
Further development of the new class of adhesives is ongoing...
So they've invented a new superglue that only sticks to itself.
Don't image google for flesh eating bacteria.
My other account has a 3-digit UID.
Saying that that's based on flesh-eating bacteria is like saying that a taxi service uses getaway cars, when in fact it just uses ordinary cars.
The material on which the adhesive is based is produced by bacteria of that species in general, not just by the flesh-eating ones.