Deconstructing and Reconstructing Oyster Cement to Create Inorganic Adhesives

牡蛎礁是保持沿海环境健康的最主要因素之一。 这些水泥结构，通常长达数公里，吸收风暴潮能量，过滤水，并保持淤泥。 最近的研究表明，牡蛎用一种特殊的粘合剂（或“水泥”）建造它们的珊瑚礁群落，这种粘合剂的成分与所有商业和其他生物粘合剂明显不同。 鉴于其独特的成分和在潮湿环境中工作的能力，牡蛎水泥提出了一个不同的，在很大程度上未探索的粘合剂可以是什么。 目前项目计划的努力将有助于了解牡蛎水泥的性质，以及如何将这项技术应用于创造独特的新型粘合剂。 这些信息将适用于测试新骨水泥的骨结合能力，其具有某种类似的成分，并且难以牢固粘附。 这些努力的跨学科性质将有助于推进包括海洋生物学，生物化学和材料工程在内的几个领域。 外联活动包括在普渡大学的妇女参与工程方案中与高中生合作进行实验室模块。牡蛎礁是保持沿海环境健康的最主要因素之一。 这些水泥结构，通常长达数公里，吸收风暴潮能量，过滤水，并保持淤泥。 最近的研究表明，牡蛎是用一种主要由无机碳酸钙和少量蛋白质组成的粘合剂（或“水泥”）来构建珊瑚礁群落的。 这种组合物与所有由有机聚合物、多糖或蛋白质制成的商业和其他生物粘合剂形成鲜明对比。 本文所述的实验开始通过鉴定牡蛎水泥的蛋白质（目标#1A）开始。 然后将使用所鉴定的蛋白质的表达（目标#1B）来制备蛋白质-无机制剂，以了解有机物和无机物之间的相互作用如何产生粘附（目标#2）。 这些结构-功能研究将有助于说明具有这种无机含量的材料如何表现出高强度粘合。 然后，将使用这些知识来检验一个假设，该假设表明可以使用坚硬且主要为无机的粘合剂实现骨粘合（目标3）。 外联活动包括在普渡大学的妇女参与工程方案中与高中生合作进行实验室模块。 总之，这项工作将展示生物学如何创造独特的材料，并指导海洋生物技术适应生物医学的需要。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Nontechnical Description:Oyster reefs are one of the most dominant factors for keeping coastal environments healthy. These cemented structures, often kilometers long, absorb storm surge energy, filter water, and hold silt in place. Recent insights are showing that oysters construct their reef communities with a specialized adhesive (or “cement”) whose composition is markedly different from all commercial and other biological adhesives. Given its unique composition and its ability to work in wet environments, oyster cement presents a different and largely unexplored view on what adhesives can be. Efforts planned for the current project will help to understand the nature of oyster cement and how this technology may be applied to create unique, new adhesives. Such information will be adapted here to test the ability of new cements to bond bone, which has a somewhat analogous composition and has been difficult to adhere strongly. The interdisciplinary nature of these efforts will help to advance several fields including marine biology, biochemistry, and materials engineering. Outreach activities include working with high school students for laboratory modules in the Women in Engineering Program at Purdue University. Technical Description:Oyster reefs are one of the most dominant factors for keeping coastal environments healthy. These cemented structures, often kilometers long, absorb storm surge energy, filter water, and hold silt in place. Recent insights are showing that oysters construct their reef communities with an adhesive (or “cement”) that is predominantly made of inorganic calcium carbonate and a minority of protein. Such a composition stands in stark contrast to all commercial and other biological adhesives, which are made from organic polymers, polysaccharides, or proteins. Experiments described herein begin by identifying the proteins of oyster cement (Aim #1A). Expression of the identified proteins (Aim #1B) will then be used to make protein-inorganic formulations for understanding how the interplay between organics and inorganics generates adhesion (Aim #2). These structure-function studies will help to illustrate how a material with such inorganic content can exhibit high strength adhesion. This knowledge will then be used to test a hypothesis stating that bonding of bone may be achieved with adhesives that are hard and predominantly inorganic (Aim #3). Outreach activities include working with high school students for laboratory modules in the Women in Engineering Program at Purdue University. Taken together, this work will show how biology creates unique materials and guide the adaption of marine biological technologies to biomedical needs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.