Ten leading European academic and industrial research institutes operating in the underwater adhesion field have partnered in the development of an interdisciplinary training program. This is aimed at boosting research efforts into finding out why the adhesive functions of aquatic organisms like mussels and caddisfly remain unchanged underwater, while adhesive materials tend to fail after extended exposure to wet environments.
By bringing together their different approaches, the institutes backing the launch of the BioSmartTrainee program hope to create a new generation of 11 young researchers whose multidisciplinary training will enhance their research efforts in the fields of polymer science, adhesion and fluid biomechanics. The research will involve identifying and focusing on the adhesion mechanism used by aquatic organisms, with an end goal of mimicking the principles inherent in these biological systems in the creation of new synthetic polymeric materials better able to withstand wet environments.