Chapter 9: Translating Mussel Adhesion: Four Uncertainties about the Interface

Marine mussels successfully adhere to surfaces that are wet, corroded, encrusted with salts, and coated with bio-films. Effective translation of mussel adhesion has great technological appeal but cannot advance substantively without fundamental insight into mussel adhesive chemistry, processing, and microarchitecture. Recent work has provided mechanistic insight about the role of surface dehydration, interfacial acidification, and redox regulation during mussel attachment that enable a re-evaluation of the process with the corresponding advantages for the design of synthetic platforms.