Meeting: The path less traveled: Reciprocal illumination of gecko adhesion by unifying material science, biomechanics, ecology, and evolution; Jan 3-7, 2019, Tampa, Florida

University Of California-Riverside, Riverside CA

Investigators

Abstract

Geckos have captured the imagination of the public and scientists for centuries. They can stick to smooth surfaces, and even walk inverted. The remarkable gecko adhesive system has become a model for evolutionary innovation and synthetic design. Gecko research over the past two decades has been as diverse as the group itself, including ecological, evolutionary, morphological, biomechanical, and material science foci. Indeed, interest in gecko-inspired adhesives has exploded since 2002, but progress is now slowing because dialogue and collaboration between materials scientists and engineers on one hand, and biologists on the other, is less intense than it should be. As a result, the former lack the knowledge of the "real world" in which these lizards employ their adhesive mechanism, and the latter have only just begun to recognize that the findings of biomimeticists and engineers can inspire new avenues for their own investigations. The symposium will explore the ways in which fundamental and applied approaches can reciprocally illuminate answers to challenging questions in gecko biology and gecko-inspired design of synthetic adhesives. The emergent collaborations and insight will fuel a new research path that will lead to the design and formation of products that will benefit society. In addition, the current understanding of gecko diversity will expand, leading to a deeper appreciation of these unique animals. The list of speakers transcends career stages, gender, and nationality, leading to the training of diverse STEM scientists. Study of the gecko adhesive system requires integration across scales and clearly highlights the benefits of an integrative approach. Although much progress has been made over the past 15 years, the field has fallen short of a true integrative approach. What are now needed to propel the field forward are connections and collaborations between ecologists, evolutionary biologists, morphologists, biomechanists, and material scientists. The symposium is designed to address grand challenges in the areas of research devoted to organismal biology, as follows: Understanding the organism's role in organism-environment linkages (by addressing physical, physiological and genetic factors that constrain or promote adjustment to changing environments over different time scales); Exploring the functional diversity of organisms (by fostering collaborations between applied researchers and organismal biologists to advance bio-inspired technology); Integrating living and physical systems analysis (through cross-disciplinary inspiration, and the development of sustained collaborations); Understanding how genomes produce organisms (by understanding regulatory networks, integration and feedbacks that produce particular phenotypes, and mechanisms and feedbacks that mediate environmental effects on phenotypic expression and performance). The symposium will incorporate emerging areas pertinent to gecko adhesion, such as genomics, biochemistry and behavior, thereby expanding the reach of current research and application. The breadth of the contributions in this symposium and complementary sessions will foster advances on several fronts. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.