Late News Poster Session: Biomaterials
Program Organizers: TMS Administration

Tuesday 5:30 PM
March 21, 2023
Room: Exhibit Hall G
Location: SDCC


K-11: Bioinspired Microstructured Adhesives for Biomedical Applications: Gabriela Moreira Lana1; Katharina Sorg1; Gentiana Wenzel2; Xuan Zhang1; Eduard Arzt1; 1INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials; 2Saarland University Medical Center – Homburg
    Adhesives for interaction with skin and tissues are needed for multiple applications, from wearable electronics to medical devices for diagnostics and therapy. Bioinspired fibrillar structures, initially developed for robotics, were upgraded to adhere to biological surfaces and solve problems in medicine. We used a fibrillar array topped by a continuous soft skin adhesive (SSA) layer, the film-terminated design. It exhibits effective adhesion to skin-like rough surfaces compared to unstructured samples, due to the synergetic effect of the terminal layer and subsurface microstructure. The glue-free, reliable adhesion to the skin and rough surfaces opens a large spectrum of possibilities for medical applications, including treating eardrum perforations. We also investigated the adhesion to explanted mouse eardrums and the dampening effect of the fibrillar microstructure, which protects the sensitive membrane during application. Animal tests showed promising results to replace current surgical approaches with a less invasive and more effective treatment.