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Biomimetics, Volume 4, Issue 1

2019 March - 28 articles

Cover Story: Histidine–zinc metal coordination interactions are known to be responsible for the exceptional toughness and self-healing capacity of natural materials such as the mussel byssus. This example of biogenic healing is an important archetype for the design of artificial self-healing materials featuring the ability to repair mechanical damage through reversible breaking and reformation of this supramolecular interaction. This review provides an overview of the current understanding of the biological role model, as well as the state-of-the-art developments in synthetic approaches to mimic its behavior in new materials, highlighting the impressive diversity of the zinc–histidine (imidazole) metal–ligand bonds. View this paper.
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Articles (28)

  • Article
  • Open Access
9 Citations
6,768 Views
21 Pages

Inspired by bird feather structures that enable the resistance of powerful aerodynamic forces in addition to their lower weight to provide stable flight, a biomimetic composite turbine blade was proposed for a low-temperature organic Rankine cycle (O...

  • Article
  • Open Access
12 Citations
4,518 Views
20 Pages

Implementation of Deep Deterministic Policy Gradients for Controlling Dynamic Bipedal Walking

  • Chujun Liu,
  • Andrew G. Lonsberry,
  • Mark J. Nandor,
  • Musa L. Audu,
  • Alexander J. Lonsberry and
  • Roger D. Quinn

A control system for bipedal walking in the sagittal plane was developed in simulation. The biped model was built based on anthropometric data for a 1.8 m tall male of average build. At the core of the controller is a deep deterministic policy gradie...

  • Review
  • Open Access
132 Citations
18,659 Views
34 Pages

During the 3.8 billion years of biological evolution, a multitude of functional principles has been developed in all kingdoms of life enabling the sealing and healing of diverse types of damage. Inspired by this treasure trove, biologists and enginee...

  • Article
  • Open Access
54 Citations
8,573 Views
17 Pages

Natural biopolymeric materials often possess properties superior to their individual components. In mussel byssus, reversible histidine (His)–metal coordination is a key feature, which mediates higher-order self-assembly as well as self-healing...

  • Article
  • Open Access
22 Citations
6,268 Views
18 Pages

With the class of shock-absorbing proteins, nature created some of the most robust materials combining both mechanical strength and elasticity. Their excellent ability to dissipate energy to prevent surrounding cells from damage is an interesting pro...

  • Article
  • Open Access
49 Citations
7,007 Views
22 Pages

Passing the Wake: Using Multiple Fins to Shape Forces for Swimming

  • Anthony P. Mignano,
  • Shraman Kadapa,
  • James L. Tangorra and
  • George V. Lauder

Fish use coordinated motions of multiple fins and their body to swim and maneuver underwater with more agility than contemporary unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). The location, utilization and kinematics of fins vary for different locomotory tasks...

  • Article
  • Open Access
25 Citations
6,592 Views
19 Pages

Neuromechanical Model of Rat Hindlimb Walking with Two-Layer CPGs

  • Kaiyu Deng,
  • Nicholas S. Szczecinski,
  • Dirk Arnold,
  • Emanuel Andrada,
  • Martin S. Fischer,
  • Roger D. Quinn and
  • Alexander J. Hunt

This work demonstrates a neuromechanical model of rat hindlimb locomotion undergoing nominal walking with perturbations. In the animal, two types of responses to perturbations are observed: resetting and non-resetting deletions. This suggests that th...

  • Review
  • Open Access
80 Citations
19,954 Views
21 Pages

Healing through Histidine: Bioinspired Pathways to Self-Healing Polymers via Imidazole–Metal Coordination

  • Stefan Zechel,
  • Martin D. Hager,
  • Tobias Priemel and
  • Matthew J. Harrington

Biology offers a valuable inspiration toward the development of self-healing engineering composites and polymers. In particular, chemical level design principles extracted from proteinaceous biopolymers, especially the mussel byssus, provide inspirat...

  • Article
  • Open Access
8 Citations
5,014 Views
9 Pages

Synthesis of Optimized Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for the Isolation and Detection of Antidepressants via HPLC

  • Alexander D. Hudson,
  • Ricard Solà,
  • Jorge T. Ueta,
  • William Battell,
  • Oliver Jamieson,
  • Thomas Dunbar,
  • Beatriz Maciá and
  • Marloes Peeters

Antidepressants such as amitryptiline and fluoxetine are on the list of modern essential medicines of the World Health Organization. However, there are growing concerns regarding the ecological impact of these pharmaceuticals, leading to a great need...

  • Article
  • Open Access
103 Citations
10,497 Views
17 Pages

Cellulose Nanofiber-Reinforced Chitosan Hydrogel Composites for Intervertebral Disc Tissue Repair

  • Ingo Doench,
  • Tuan Ahn Tran,
  • Laurent David,
  • Alexandra Montembault,
  • Eric Viguier,
  • Christian Gorzelanny,
  • Guillaume Sudre,
  • Thibaut Cachon,
  • Malika Louback-Mohamed and
  • Anayancy Osorio-Madrazo
  • + 2 authors

The development of non-cellularized composites of chitosan (CHI) hydrogels, filled with cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) of the type nanofibrillated cellulose, was proposed for the repair and regeneration of the intervertebral disc (IVD) annulus fibrosus...

  • Article
  • Open Access
34 Citations
6,374 Views
12 Pages

Effects of Capsaicin on Biomimetic Membranes

  • Neha Sharma,
  • Huong T. T. Phan,
  • Tsuyoshi Yoda,
  • Naofumi Shimokawa,
  • Mun’delanji C. Vestergaard and
  • Masahiro Takagi

Capsaicin is a natural compound that produces a warm sensation and is known for its remarkable medicinal properties. Understanding the interaction between capsaicin with lipid membranes is essential to clarify the molecular mechanisms behind its phar...

  • Article
  • Open Access
39 Citations
7,097 Views
16 Pages

Synthesis and Characterization of Acetic Acid-Doped Polyaniline and Polyaniline–Chitosan Composite

  • Bianca Rae Pasela,
  • Acelle Pearl Castillo,
  • Rhenish Simon,
  • Maria Teresa Pulido,
  • Haidee Mana-ay,
  • Ma. Roxan Abiquibil,
  • Rhys Montecillo,
  • Kanjana Thumanu,
  • Doebner von Tumacder and
  • Kathrina Lois Taaca

Polyaniline–chitosan (PAni–Cs) composite films were synthesized using a solution casting method with varying PAni concentrations. Polyaniline powders used in the composite synthesis were polymerized using acetic acid as the dopant media....

  • Article
  • Open Access
29 Citations
7,198 Views
16 Pages

Design and Actuation of a Fabric-Based Worm-Like Robot

  • Akhil Kandhari,
  • Anna Mehringer,
  • Hillel J. Chiel,
  • Roger D. Quinn and
  • Kathryn A. Daltorio

Soft-bodied animals, such as earthworms, are capable of contorting their body to squeeze through narrow spaces, create or enlarge burrows, and move on uneven ground. In many applications such as search and rescue, inspection of pipes and medical proc...

  • Article
  • Open Access
15 Citations
4,995 Views
20 Pages

The influence of the coordination of (reversible) cross-links on the mechanical properties of aligned fiber bundles is investigated. Two polymeric systems containing cross-links of different coordination (two- and three-fold coordination) but having...

  • Article
  • Open Access
52 Citations
7,045 Views
10 Pages

Bioinspired ZnS:Gd Nanoparticles Synthesized from an Endophytic Fungi Aspergillus flavus for Fluorescence-Based Metal Detection

  • Priyanka Uddandarao,
  • Raj Mohan Balakrishnan,
  • Apoorva Ashok,
  • Sai Swarup and
  • Priti Sinha

Recently, several nonconventional sources have emerged as strong hotspots for the biosynthesis of chalcogenide quantum dots. However, studies that have ascertained the biomimetic methodologies that initiate biosynthesis are rather limited. The presen...

  • Conference Report
  • Open Access
1 Citations
3,425 Views
6 Pages

The International Work Conference on Bioinspired Intelligence (IWOBI) is an annual event that comprises both an international peer-reviewed scientific conference and a set of workshops and other activities in order to foster the research abilities an...

  • Article
  • Open Access
14 Citations
6,650 Views
14 Pages

Analyzing Moment Arm Profiles in a Full-Muscle Rat Hindlimb Model

  • Fletcher Young,
  • Christian Rode,
  • Alex Hunt and
  • Roger Quinn

Understanding the kinematics of a hindlimb model is a fundamental aspect of modeling coordinated locomotion. This work describes the development process of a rat hindlimb model that contains a complete muscular system and incorporates physiological w...

  • Article
  • Open Access
7 Citations
4,569 Views
12 Pages

Lipid bilayers represent the interface between the cell and its environment, serving as model systems for the study of various biological processes. For instance, the addition of small molecules such as alcohols is a well-known process that modulates...

  • Review
  • Open Access
16 Citations
7,454 Views
20 Pages

The mechanical reinforcement of the ventricular wall after a myocardial infarction has been shown to modulate and attenuate negative remodeling that can lead to heart failure. Strategies include wraps, meshes, cardiac patches, or fluid-filled bladder...

  • Article
  • Open Access
5 Citations
4,341 Views
11 Pages

The photoelectrochemical behavior of dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cells based on a TiO2 layer sensitized with ruthenium components, including an absorber, ruthenium(II)bis(2,2′-bipyridine)([2,2′-bipyridine]-4,4′-diylbis(phosp...

  • Conference Report
  • Open Access
2 Citations
4,574 Views
5 Pages

Bioinspired Materials 2018: Conference Report

  • Marloes Peeters,
  • Patricia Linton and
  • Araida Hidalgo-Bastida

The Bioinspired Materials conference 2018 was organized for the third time by a team of researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University. This international conference aims to bring together the scientific committee in the fields of biomimetic sen...

  • Article
  • Open Access
64 Citations
7,296 Views
17 Pages

NDs@PDA@ICG Conjugates for Photothermal Therapy of Glioblastoma Multiforme

  • Damian Maziukiewicz,
  • Bartosz F. Grześkowiak,
  • Emerson Coy,
  • Stefan Jurga and
  • Radosław Mrówczyński

The growing incidence of cancer is a problem for modern medicine, since the therapeutic efficacy of applied modalities is still not satisfactory in terms of patients’ survival rates, especially in the case of patients with brain tumors. The des...

  • Article
  • Open Access
14 Citations
4,991 Views
13 Pages

The Friction Properties of Firebrat Scales

  • Yuji Hirai,
  • Naoto Okuda,
  • Naoki Saito,
  • Takahiro Ogawa,
  • Ryuichiro Machida,
  • Shûhei Nomura,
  • Masahiro Ôhara,
  • Miki Haseyama and
  • Masatsugu Shimomura

Friction is an important subject for sustainability due to problems that are associated with energy loss. In recent years, micro- and nanostructured surfaces have attracted much attention to reduce friction; however, suitable structures are still und...

  • Article
  • Open Access
18 Citations
8,116 Views
14 Pages

The calcaneal fat pad is a major load bearing component of the human foot due to daily gait activities such as standing, walking, and running. Heel and arch pain pathologies such as plantar fasciitis, which over one third of the world population suff...

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Biomimetics - ISSN 2313-7673