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Materials Science and Engineering

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering

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Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering

Nanofibers And Nanoparticles From The Insect-Capturing Adhesive Of The Sundew (Drosera) For Cell Attachment, Mingjun Zhang, Scott C. Lenaghan, Lijin Xia, Lixin Dong, Wei He, William R. Henson, Xudong Fan Aug 2010

Nanofibers And Nanoparticles From The Insect-Capturing Adhesive Of The Sundew (Drosera) For Cell Attachment, Mingjun Zhang, Scott C. Lenaghan, Lijin Xia, Lixin Dong, Wei He, William R. Henson, Xudong Fan

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering

Background

The search for naturally occurring nanocomposites with diverse properties for tissue engineering has been a major interest for biomaterial research. In this study, we investigated a nanofiber and nanoparticle based nanocomposite secreted from an insect-capturing plant, the Sundew, for cell attachment. The adhesive nanocomposite has demonstrated high biocompatibility and is ready to be used with minimal preparation.

Results

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) conducted on the adhesive from three species of Sundew found that a network of nanofibers and nanoparticles with various sizes existed independent of the coated surface. AFM and light microscopy confirmed that the pattern of nanofibers corresponded …