Prof Asa Barber, Dean of Engineering at London South Bank University. 

Limpet use their teeth to rasp over rock surfaces to loosen and remove algae for feeding. Limpet teeth are therefore required to function under extreme loading conditions. A series of small-scale experimental tests are shown here to confirm that the teeth conform to a strong composite, exploiting features such as defect tolerance and efficient adhesion between a hard nanofibrous phase and softer matrix to resist failure. Indeed, limpet teeth were reported [1] as the strongest biological structure known. Exploiting design principles found in limpet teeth has resulted in a series of synthetic and hybrid synthetic-biological routes, proposed here, that progress towards bioengineered limpet teeth. 

All Department members welcome.