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Eric's Project Page |
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Intern: Eric Feinstein, UCSB
Mentor: Jason Saggert
Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Herbert Waite
Department: Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology |
MECHANICAL PROPERTY ANALYSIS OF MUSSEL BYSSAL THREADS
Mussel byssal threads possess many properties which allow the mussels that make them to meet the challenges faced in the rocky intertidal zones they inhabit. Byssal threads are simple morphologically, rapidly reproducible and present tremendous industrial potential due to mechanical behavior determined by chemical and physical structure. I was involved in the refinement and application of methods and procedures designed to investigate the tensile properties of byssal threads, from arranging mussels in aquatic tanks to foster the production of threads to the mounting of threads while minimizing slippage under testing conditions so as to obtain accurate readings. The primary equipment used in this research is the Materials Testing Software (MTS) Bionix 200, a sensitive load-cell based instrument that is made by Materials Testing Software Corporation (Minneapolis, MN) and is related to instrumentation used in the automotive and aerospace industries. The tester’s specialized software package, along with customized methods (macros), was used to perform data analysis. This research will help with our larger project of better understanding the biochemistry behind the threads.
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