Jonathan Wilker

Jonathan Wilker is an American scientist, engineer, and educator who focuses on marine biological adhesives for use in surgery and other applications. His work has been profiled by The New York Times,[1] National Public Radio,[2] Popular Science,[3] and his research findings appear in a number of scientific journals.

Jonathan Wilker
Wilker speaking at Poptech in 2013
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology
OccupationProfessor, Purdue University
AwardsBeckman Young Investigators Award
Websitehttps://www.chem.purdue.edu/wilker/

He is a Professor at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, where he teaches courses in chemistry. Wilker has received a number of awards for his teaching including The College of Science Outstanding Teacher Award at Purdue University (2011).[4] In addition to being in the Department of Chemistry, he is also a Professor of Materials Engineering at Purdue University. Outside activities include advocacy for federal funding of science research and development.[5]

Education

Wilker grew up in the Boston area. He has said that, when younger, visiting beaches with his parents and, when older, scuba diving have influenced the research pursued in his laboratory. As an undergraduate, Wilker studied chemistry at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He was a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in chemistry, working under Stephen Lippard. After graduation he spent time at the California Institute of Technology as a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Harry Gray. In 1999 he moved to Purdue University to start his own research laboratory.[6]

Research

His research group is working to understand how animals adhere to surfaces in the wet marine environment.[7] Much of this work has been with mussels and oysters. Key findings include observations indicating that mussels use iron to cure their protein-based adhesive.[8] Oysters have been shown to produce a cement with chemistry quite different from that of mussels.[9]

Another aspect of Wilker’s research program is in biomimicry. He is using information learned from marine biology to make new adhesive materials. Of note is development of a polymer adhesive that can bond more strongly than commercial Super Glue. Their laboratory has also made what may be the strongest known adhesive for bonding underwater.[10][11]

Wilker is also working in applications development, in particular using biomimetic materials to develop new adhesives for general use as well as, specifically, for surgeries.[12] One challenge in replacing biomedical sutures and screws is obtaining adhesives that can set in the wet environment of the body. Another aspect of applications development is making coatings to prevent shellfish adhesion on ship hulls, to decrease drag and fuel consumption.

Wilker has won numerous awards for his research including the PopTech Science Fellowship (2013),[13] the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship (2002),[14] the Beckman Young Investigators Award (2001),[15] and the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award (2001).[16] Wilker has spoken about his research at PopTech (2013) and TEDx Purdue (2018).[17]

References
  1. "Special Adhesive Helps Oysters Stick Together". New York Times. August 30, 2010. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
  2. "Why A Hoosier State Scientist Is Stuck On Oysters". National Public Radio. March 28, 2013. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
  3. "Your guide to the practical uses of hagfish slime, glowworm glue, and other animal goo". Popular Science. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  4. Fiorini, Philip (October 24, 2012). "Purdue researcher to discuss how nature helps develop biomedical materials". Purdue University. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
  5. Wang, Linda (October 10, 2012). "Speaking Up For Science". Chemical & Engineering News. 90 (22): 55. doi:10.1021/cen-09022-acsnews.
  6. "Purdue Chemistry: Wilker Laboratory: Jon Wilker". www.chem.purdue.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  7. "Wilker Laboratory". Purdue University Website. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  8. "Chemists Crack Secrets of Nature's Super Glue". National Science Foundation. January 12, 2004. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  9. "Cement, the Glue That Holds Oyster Families Together". National Science Foundation. August 23, 2010. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  10. Liszewski, Andrew. "Scientists Made the Perfect Underwater Glue By Stealing an Idea From Shellfish". Gizmodo. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  11. North, Michael A.; Del Grosso, Chelsey A.; Wilker, Jonathan J. (2017-03-01). "High Strength Underwater Bonding with Polymer Mimics of Mussel Adhesive Proteins". ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 9 (8): 7866–7872. doi:10.1021/acsami.7b00270. ISSN 1944-8244. PMID 28177600.
  12. "Jonathan Wilker Profile". Poptech. November 9, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  13. "Jonathan Wilker Profile". Poptech. November 9, 2013. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
  14. "Jonathan Wilker Profile". Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
  15. "Jonathan Wilker". Beckman Foundation. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  16. "Chemists Crack Secrets of Nature's Super Glue". National Science Foundation. January 12, 2004. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
  17. "3/3/18 TEDx Purdue". Purdue Exponent. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
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