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	Podcast:		UC Science Today
	Episode:		Mollusk-inspired glues may advance fetal surgery
	Category:		Science & Medicine
	Duration:		00:01:03
	Publish Date:		2016-09-03 19:00:00
	Description:		It’s been 35 years since the first fetal surgery was performed by Dr. Michael Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco . And now engineers at the University of California, Berkeley are teaming up with Harrison to develop a fetal surgery glue that’s inspired by mussels – yes, the edible ocean dwellers. UC Berkeley engineer Phillip Messersmith says they’re synthesizing a glue that’s based on the tough adhesive that mussels produce to stick to rocks. "The idea that we could borrow ideas from the mussel and use them in a synthetic material is something that we embraced. And so if you want to do that, you have to at least have some basic level of understanding of how this glue works in nature." Mussels secrete a series of protein threads to anchor to a wet surface, so Messersmith and his team have created synthetic polymers that mimic the glue. The hope is that this glue may alleviate current risks of rupturing the protective membrane of the amniotic sac. "Now we’re embarking on a four-year project for fetal surgery glues."
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