Flesh-eating Bacteria Inspires Highly Selective Instant Adhesive 52
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."
Have developed? maybe not yet (Score:5, Informative)
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?