Geckos Inspire Possible Medical Adhesive

Researchers at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created a new medical adhesive inspired by the sticky footpads of gecko lizards that could potentially replace the glues, sutures, and staples

currently used by surgeons.

“There is a great need for biomedical adhesives that are tape-based,” said Jeffrey M. Karp, a Harvard Medical School affiliate and one of the head researchers on the gecko project.

In 2000, a team of researchers at Lewis and Clark College discovered how gecko feet “stick” to a surface, according to MSNBC. Karp and his colleague, MIT Professor Robert S. Langer, have turned this microscopic structure into a possible medical tool.

Karp says he and Langer’s team recently created an elastic, waterproof, and biodegradable polymer called “biorubber” in the search for a safe tape-based clinical adhesive. Biorubber, Karp said, is “bio-compatible,” and it would not cause a serious inflammatory response if used in surgery.

Then, Karp and Langer brought in the geckos.

Gecko footpads are covered with millions of tiny “nanopillars” that can stick to almost anytype of material, enabling the lizards to cling to surfaces, scale walls, and climb trees. Karp and Langer sculpted their biorubber in the shape of these nanopillars and coated it with a sugar-based glue.

The result, Langer said, was a tape-based adhesive that may be simpler, easier to use, and perhaps even stronger than glue. For example, Karp said, the adhesive could in intestinal surgery or ulcer treatment, preventing bleeding after a gastric bypass procedure.

So far, Karp and Langer’s labs have only tested the adhesive on rats and pigs. However, Karp and Langer say they’ll likely develop a specific application for their adhesive and soon work with a company to get their product into hospitals.

“If we keep things simple, it could be [in clinics in] as early as two to five years,” Karp said.

“I expect there will be a lot of interest in this sort of thing,” Langer said.

Some doctors are skeptical. Cary W. Akins ’66, a cardiac surgeon at Mass. General Hospital, believes that a great deal more research must be conducted before scientists can begin to discuss possible surgical applications of this technology.

“Insertion of any foreign body into humans that is meant to be permanent cannot be taken lightly,” Akins said.

But Karp is optimistic. The new polymer seems to be very bio-compatible, he said, producing minimal inflammatory response in tests.

Kellar Autumn, who leads the Lewis and Clark lab responsible for earlier gecko discoveries, said he is excited about Karp and Langer’s findings.

“This is certainly an important step forward,” he said.

However, Autumn added, much research and progress has yet to be made. For instance, he said, Karp and Langer’s adhesive is not nearly as sticky as the feet of the gecko lizards that inspired it.

“Future efforts could yield a much stronger adhesive,” Autumn said.