Challenges Solved

Although matching the output of platinum-based catalysts with biomimetic ones will take some time to accomplish, it is likely possible. Moreover, the materials required to produce industrial-scale electrolysis equipment using the biomimetic technique will be extremely inexpensive compared to precious metals.

Challenges Solved

Until very recently, producing pharmaceutical grade heparin has exclusively involved harvesting organs from slaughtered cows and pigs and performing purification of the material. Newer techniques are capable of synthesizing the compound in a laboratory but are expensive and require toxic reagents and solvents. Biomimetic techniques for heparin synthesis like the lab-on-chip Golgi apparatus developed by Dr. Dordick at RPI may some day make production of heparin cheaper and less environmentally taxing.

Challenges Solved

Treating bone injuries (e.g. fractures) usually involves setting the bone in place so that natural processes can mend the damage. Malformation of the regrown bone is common since there is essentially no way to guide the nano-scale formation of the bone mineral. Other techniques involving metal implants are sometimes used to replace especially damaged bone. Artificially guided regrowth of bone using peptide amphiphiles developed by Nanotope may someday be a common technique for treating bone damage since it is conceptually capable of producing perfectly formed bone.

Challenges Solved

Detection of pathogenic bacteria and viruses can be difficult and time consuming or even impossible in some cases. Cells, however, are capable of detecting faint traces of molecules with their sensitive biochemical receptors. Mimicking the receptors and having them induce a macroscopically visible color change would allow instant detection of chemicals associated with pathogens and other chemicals.

Challenges Solved

Conventional antimicrobial surface coatings cannot always prevent the growth of microbial biofilms either due to resistance or lack of inherent efficacy. Surface coatings containing immobilized ampetoid may be more effective at preventing the growth of pathogens on medical devices, hospital equipment, food packaging, and fresh water containers.

Challenges Solved

Sutures, staples, and other types of wound closure treatment are not appropriate for all types of tissue including vasculature and many organs. Surgical adhesives have been developed but have not been widely adopted because of deficiencies related to strength, elasticity, setting time, reabsorbtion rate, toxicity, or source material. Bioinspired cross-linking proteins may be superior in all of these respects.

Challenges Solved

Silica is used in dozens of different industries and fills roles ranging from optical (i.e., optical fiber) to structural. Silica with carefully engineered nano-architecture could be cheaper and easier to produce and have superior properties.

Challenges Solved

Many protein-catalyzed reactions are highly sensitive to their conditions, occurring only within a narrow range of pH values and temperatures and requiring particular cofactors or metal ions. The SpyTag reaction works is a wide variety of conditions.

Challenges Solved

There are many different medications for the treatment of type II diabetes. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages for individual patients. Exenatide is an effective drug for managing blood glucose in many cases.

Challenges Solved

Most adhesives lose effectiveness when wet. In addition, there are few adhesives that maintain activity over the course of repeated contact cycles. Geckel nano-adhesive could be superior to conventional adhesives for certain applications.

Challenges Solved

Pollution in congested cities affects millions of people worldwide. Using TX Active® cement in the construction of buildings and roads could mitigate the problem.

Challenges Solved

Detecting blood glucose levels is crucial for diabetics and individuals suffering from certain other diseases. Entrapping glucose sensitive proteins in amorphous silica matrices could increase the lifespan and effectiveness of glucometers.

Challenges Solved

Industrial synthesis of polymeric silicones requires toxic organochlorides, high temperatures, and extreme pHs. This process produces large quantities of waste and is quite energy intensive.

Challenges Solved

Long ladder molecules could be the backbone for new pharmaceuticals; however, research has been limited by the difficulty in producing even small quantities of the compounds.

Challenges Solved

Conventional polymers are relatively simple from an intramolecular physics point of view. They are usually quite well designed to be either strong or elastic but not both. Moreover, few show adaptable stress-strain properties and even fewer demonstrate self-healing or shape-memory. UPy based polymers like SupraB® can combine all of these properties by mimicking the molecular design of titin.

Challenges Solved

Although nano-scale materials are incredibly strong at that particular size, macroscopic materials made from them often fail to maintain that strength.

Challenges Solved

The pulmonary pathogens associated with cystic fibrosis form antibiotic resistant biofilms. Pharmaceutical quorum-sensing inhibitors could be useful as antibiotic adjuncts for treating these infections.

Challenges Solved

Carbon nanotubes disrupt membranes and are toxic to living cells. Moreover, they interact with cells in an entirely non-specific manner and cannot be targeted toward any one tissue, cell, or organelle-type.

Challenges Solved

There was a need to replace polyacrylate, used in diapers and agriculture, which is inexpensive but is not biodegradable, representing a significant waste product.

Challenges Solved

Over 10 million people worldwide are blind due to cornea related diseases. The supply and compatibility of donor corneas is simply insufficient to satisfy the large quantity that is in demand.

Challenges Solved

Repelling insects with chemicals is a simple task. However, discovering such a chemical that is non-toxic and sustainable is not simple. Non-toxic repellants are especially vital for topical use.

Challenges Solved

Conventional synthesis processes for large complex molecules like antibiotics are labor-, time-, and energy-intensive. They often produce large quantities of toxic waste for a small industrial quantity of product.

Challenges Solved

Challenges Solved

Bone substitutes made for surgical implantation include many kinds of metals, ceramics, cements, donor bone mass, and collagen-derived bone re-growth materials. These are each plagued with their own problems including leachates, brittleness, mechanical incompatibility, infection, high cost, etc. Overall, no one material is strong, cost-effective, biocompatible, and capable of integrating with host tissue.

Challenges Solved

Traditional Portland cement is made with alkaline quicklime. The production of which (from lime) releases a great deal of CO2 into the atmosphere (both from chemical reactions and the intense heat required). Moreover, filler materials often react with the alkaline material to create structural weakness in the set concrete after some time has passed.

Challenges Solved

Most techniques for generating electrical current from biomass (e.g., carbohydrates) involve the conversion of fuels into alcohol for use in combustion engines. These multiple conversion steps decrease the efficiency of the system as a whole. Even microbial fuel cells, which can generate electricity from biomass fuels directly, are plagued by low yields.

Challenges Solved

Cracks, even microcracks, may be found in any component part. These can cause failure, which is expensive, inconvenient, and a waste of resources.