IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v643y2025i8074d10.1038_s41586-025-09304-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mechanical underwater adhesive devices for soft substrates

Author

Listed:
  • Ziliang Kang

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Harvard Medical School
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Johanna A. Gomez

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Alisa MeiShan Ross

    (Harvard Medical School)

  • Ameya R. Kirtane

    (Harvard Medical School
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    University of Minnesota)

  • Ming Zhao

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Harvard Medical School)

  • Yubin Cai

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Fu Xing Chen

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Corona L. Chen

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Isaac Diaz Becdach

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard)

  • Rajib Dey

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Harvard Medical School)

  • Andrei Russel Ismael

    (Harvard Medical School)

  • Injoo Moon

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Yiyuan Yang

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Benjamin N. Muller

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Harvard Medical School
    Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard)

  • Mehmet Girayhan Say

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Andrew Pettinari

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Jason Kobrin

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Joshua Morimoto

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Ted Smierciak

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Aaron Lopes

    (Harvard Medical School
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Ayten Ebru Erdogan

    (Harvard Medical School)

  • Matt Murphy

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Niora Fabian

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Ashley Guevara

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Benedict Laidlaw

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Kailyn Schmidt

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Alison M. Hayward

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Harvard Medical School
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Alexandra H. Techet

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Christopher P. Kenaley

    (Boston College)

  • Giovanni Traverso

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Harvard Medical School
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard)

Abstract

Achieving long-term underwater adhesion to dynamic, regenerating soft substrates that undergo extreme fluctuations in pH and moisture remains a major unresolved challenge, with far-reaching implications for healthcare, manufacturing, robotics and marine applications1–16. Here, inspired by remoras—fish equipped with specialized adhesive discs—we developed the Mechanical Underwater Soft Adhesion System (MUSAS). Through detailed anatomical, behavioural, physical and biomimetic investigations of remora adhesion on soft substrates, we uncovered the key physical principles and evolutionary adaptations underlying their robust attachment. These insights guided the design of MUSAS, which shows extraordinary versatility, adhering securely to a wide range of soft substrates with varying roughness, stiffness and structural integrity. MUSAS achieves an adhesion-force-to-weight ratio of up to 1,391-fold and maintains performance under extreme pH and moisture conditions. We demonstrate its utility across highly translational models, including in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo settings, enabling applications such as ultraminiaturized aquatic kinetic temperature sensors, non-invasive gastroesophageal reflux monitoring, long-acting antiretroviral drug delivery and messenger RNA administration via the gastrointestinal tract.

Suggested Citation

  • Ziliang Kang & Johanna A. Gomez & Alisa MeiShan Ross & Ameya R. Kirtane & Ming Zhao & Yubin Cai & Fu Xing Chen & Corona L. Chen & Isaac Diaz Becdach & Rajib Dey & Andrei Russel Ismael & Injoo Moon & Y, 2025. "Mechanical underwater adhesive devices for soft substrates," Nature, Nature, vol. 643(8074), pages 1271-1280, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:643:y:2025:i:8074:d:10.1038_s41586-025-09304-4
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09304-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09304-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41586-025-09304-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:643:y:2025:i:8074:d:10.1038_s41586-025-09304-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.