Researchers at MIT looked under the sea for inspiration for their waterproof glue.

Natural adhesives secreted by shellfish enable them to attach to underwater surfaces. “A lot of underwater organisms need to be able to stick to things, so they make all sorts of different types of adhesives that you might be able to borrow from," says Timothy Lu, an associate professor of biological engineering and electrical engineering and computer science.

Influenced by sticky shellfish secretions, the research team created bacteria that produce a hybrid material combining sticky shellfish proteins and a bacterial protein found in biofilm, which is basically glue-like slime excreted by bacteria growing on a surface.

“The result is a powerful wet adhesive with independently functioning adsorptive and cohesive moieties,” describes Herbert Waite, chemistry and biochemistry professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

The team successfully created adhesives stronger than naturally occurring shellfish adhesives, and their engineered adhesives are reportedly the strongest biologically inspired, protein-based underwater adhesives ever created.

Unfortunately, researchers are currently only able to produce small amounts of the waterproof glue. But they are working on methods to improve the process, which will enable the production of greater quantities.

Researchers envision these engineered adhesives being used to repair ships. They could also see medical applications, being used to heal wounds. These highlighted applications make sense, as the research was funded by the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health.

The team’s research was published in a paper titled, “Strong underwater adhesives made by self-assembling multi-protein nanofibres” in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.