A new study from Northwestern University in Illinois has formulated a new form of melanin that may help protect human skin and clothing from toxins and radiation.
Selective porous materials have been an ongoing area of interest for chemists and materials scientists. The new study monitors the behavior sought in fungi that have had the premises for ages.
(Image: CDC via Wikimedia Commons)
This photomicrograph shows Cryptococcus neoformans using a light ink staining preparation in India. Life-threatening diseases caused by the fungal pathogen encapsulated Cryptococcus neoformans have been on the rise over the past 10 years due to AIDS and the widespread use of immunosuppressive drugs.
Inspired by Fungal Ghosts
The Northwestern University team, led by Nathan Gianneschi, then worked on melanin synthesis similar to the behavior of these fungi that are known to thrive in harsh and hostile environments such as spacecraft, side by side. inside washing machines, and even the irradiated material of Chernobyl. Going higher than expected, the new materials also showed real superiority – allowing them to capture and retain molecules.
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Melanin is found in many living organisms. On humans, it is mainly on our skin and behind our eyes. In human skin, as with other animals and plants, melanin is also visually visible for the pigments. In addition, melanin helps protect species from environmental factors such as heat and toxins. One example, the sea serpent with a turtle, gets its darker stripes around polluted environments. Also, moths in industrial areas have been seen turning black as melanin of the wings and exoskeleton contains the harmful chemicals in soot and mist.
“Melanin’s work is not known all the time and in all cases,” said Gianneschi, who was also the co-author of the study. He says the material definitely acts as a “radical scavenger” in human skin, helping to protect against UV damage. Their new study has created extremely porous material; he says fungi could make the synthetic melanin more stable and porous, allowing substances to pass through.
Their study, titled “Allomelanin: A Biopolymer of Intrinsic Microporosity,” appears in the latest edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Synthetic melanin as a shielding material
The new synthetic material opens the way for a number of potential applications. Conventional non-polar materials do not allow materials to be extracted on the surface. On the other hand, porous substances such as allomelanin – the nitrogen-free type of melanin found in fungi – can absorb and retain potentially toxic substances while allowing beneficial substances such as air and water. to go through.
The researchers found that melanin appeared to be full of gaps under the right conditions, as can be seen by placing the material under an electronic microscope. They conducted the same observational tests on the synthetic material – examining the ease with which it was selective for branded materials. In a demonstration of synthetic melanin, researchers showed that the material could be a protective coating that blocks zero gas signals. Researchers then removed the naturally occurring melanin from the fungal cells, depleting biomaterials and leaving a shell containing melanin – “fungal ghosts” for their weak, ghost-like quality.
Another advantage of the new material is that it is simple, easy to produce and highly scalable. It allows the material to be a viable alternative to protective equipment such as front trenches, shields, and spacecraft manufacturing.
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Check out more news and information on fungi in the Science Times.