@davidnbreslauer.bsky.social
1/ Resilin is a disordered, elastomeric protein used by insects to store and release mechanical energy.
Its resilience (~97%) makes it one of the most efficient biological springs known. Properties arise from sequence-level disorder + sparse crosslinking—not crystallinity.
🧵
Its resilience (~97%) makes it one of the most efficient biological springs known. Properties arise from sequence-level disorder + sparse crosslinking—not crystallinity.
🧵
April 24, 2025 at 4:06 PM
1/ Resilin is a disordered, elastomeric protein used by insects to store and release mechanical energy.
Its resilience (~97%) makes it one of the most efficient biological springs known. Properties arise from sequence-level disorder + sparse crosslinking—not crystallinity.
🧵
Its resilience (~97%) makes it one of the most efficient biological springs known. Properties arise from sequence-level disorder + sparse crosslinking—not crystallinity.
🧵
Caddisfly larvae use silk to assemble pebbles into a protective case (underwater!), enabled by the silk's phosphorylated serine. An artist gave the larvae gems & they assembled luxury cases. The silk works on non-native materials and the cases are 😍! faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
December 10, 2024 at 6:36 PM
Caddisfly larvae use silk to assemble pebbles into a protective case (underwater!), enabled by the silk's phosphorylated serine. An artist gave the larvae gems & they assembled luxury cases. The silk works on non-native materials and the cases are 😍! faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
Most of my keratin focus is on hair but feathers are incredible composite biomaterials too!🪶They pair ⍺-keratins (flexibility) with β-keratins (strength) to create lightweight, durable structures. Barbs=elastic, Rachis=rigid, Sheath=perfectly balanced.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
November 29, 2024 at 6:30 PM
Most of my keratin focus is on hair but feathers are incredible composite biomaterials too!🪶They pair ⍺-keratins (flexibility) with β-keratins (strength) to create lightweight, durable structures. Barbs=elastic, Rachis=rigid, Sheath=perfectly balanced.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Ticks make their own bioglue in their saliva to help them attach to and seal skin! It's an IDP, like the freshwater mussel adhesive I previously posted. No data yet on how it compares in terms of performance, so I guess we'll have to make it! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 21, 2024 at 6:15 PM
Ticks make their own bioglue in their saliva to help them attach to and seal skin! It's an IDP, like the freshwater mussel adhesive I previously posted. No data yet on how it compares in terms of performance, so I guess we'll have to make it! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...