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  5. Biological Structures and Biomimetics

Biological Structures and Biomimetics

Biological Structures and Biomimetics

Members

Head of Group

Porträtfoto Jan-Henning Dirks

Prof. Dr. Jan-Henning Dirks
Biological Structures and Biomimetics
+49 421 5905 6010
Email

Logo_Workgroup_BiologicalStructures

© Hochschule Bremen - Jan-Henning Dirks

PhD student

Porträtfoto Raman Raman

Raman Raman
+49 421 5905 2718
Email

Master student

Danus Rawert
M.Sc. student "Development of a soft pneumatic actuator for the integration in a starfish-inspired morphing structure“ - BIAG Project

Master student

Auf dem Bild ist Milan Sixt zu sehen. Er trägt ein dunkles Hemd und kurze dunkle Brille.

Milan Sixt
M.Sc. student - "Design and Investigation of a Modular Adapter for Softrobotics using Compliant Mechanisms“ - BIAG Project
Email

Former Members

Christoph Bruns M.Sc. 
(now Leibniz-Institut für Werkstofforientierte Technologien - IWT)
 

Jan Eggert M.Sc.

Dr. Brian Saltin
(now University of Bonn, AG Blanke)
 

Dr. Karen Stamm
 

Lukas Schmerling, M.Sc.

Recent student assistants

  • Rebekka Burkl
  • Letitia Gailus
  • Timon Gehrmann
  • Marlo Groh
  • Maurice Horras
  • Feline Jerg
  • Daniel Rafii-Vardiny
  • Talea Schoenfeld
  • Rilana Seeler
  • Simon Thewes
  • Bruno Weber

The insects' secret of success

© Hochschule Bremen - Jan-Henning Dirks

More than 80% of all animals in the world are arthropods, and amongst them insects are the most diverse and abundant group. Insects inhabit almost all of the world’s ecosystems and show an astonishing variety of different evolutionary adaptations. Hence, insects are often considered to be one of the evolutionary most successful groups of animals.

Part of the insects’ secrets of evolutionary success is their cuticle exoskeleton. After wood, arthropod cuticle is the second most common biological composite material in the world. Cuticle not only exhibits unique biomechanical properties; it is also one of the most versatile biological materials. This makes cuticle an extremely interesting candidate for the design of new bio-inspired composite materials. Surprisingly, despite many decades of research, the fundamental biomechanical properties and principles found in arthropod cuticle are still mostly unknown and the biomimetic potential of cuticle is almost untapped.

Research

From cuticle biomechanics to bio-inspired composite materials

Some of the main questions we are currently addressing include:

  • Ultrastructure of insect cuticle
  • Functional correlation in exoskeletons
  • Numerical simulation of exoskeletons
  • Bio-inspired underwater vehicle
  • BIAG - Bio-inspired joint systems
  • SUVA - Arthropod-inspired protective structures

Ultrastructure of insect cuticle

© Hochschule Bremen - Jan-Henning Dirks

Although insect cuticle is a very common biological material, very little is known about several of its fundamental biological and biomechanical properties. For example, the capability of insect cuticle to heal and repair damage seems to have been underestimated for a long time.

A particulary interesting aspect of cuticle is the ability of several exoskeleton parts to precisely align the orientation of chitin fibres in alternating layers. The orientation of these layers is presumably controlled by the epidermal cells and affected by ambient light conditions.

In several of our research projects we are investigating the principles of cuticle growth, healing and the mechanisms determining the orientation of chitin fibres. These projects are funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft in collaboration with the Max-Planck-Institute Colloids & Interfaces Potsdam, the University of Dresden, the University of Tübingen and the University of Bremen.

Functional correlation in exoskeletons

© Hochschule Bremen - Jan-Henning Dirks

Insects are considered to be the evolutionarily most successful multicellular organisms on earth. An important part of their evolutionary success is their cuticle exoskeleton, which is the most common form of skeletal structures on earth.

Surprisingly, compared to our knowledge about other biological materials our understanding of even basic biomechanical properties of arthropod exoskeletons is almost negligible.

In our group we are using a comprehensive and cross-disciplinary biomechanical approach to answer several key fundamental questions regarding material properties, morphology and histology in insect exoskeletons.

Numerical simulation of exoskeleton biomechanics

© Hochschule Bremen - Jan-Henning Dirks

Often a biomechanical analysis of complex structures such as exoskeleton body parts requires a numerical approach.

Together with our collaborators from several other universities we are developing new tools and models to better undestand material properties and function-morphology-correlation of exoskeletal structures.

BIAG- Bio-inspired joint structures

Star fish

© Hochschule Bremen - Jan-Henning Dirks

Most classic engineering joints are based on friction-reducing principles. Several biological joints however are using a different approach. The skeletal structure of the starfish for example allows the organism to maintain a constant body position without the use of external energy. This is achieved by a fascinating combination of small "bone like" structures (ossicles) which are embedded in a unique collagenous matrix.

One of the main goals of the BMBF-funded BIAG project is the analysis, development and construction of such bio-inspired joint structures for aerospace applications.

SUVA - Arthropod-inspired protective structures

Tibial tearing analyzed using the FEM method

© Hochschule Bremen - Jan-Henning Dirks

A weak spot in many protective structures, such as ortheses and prothesis, are the connective elements. In addition, deflection and movement of the structures often lead to unwanted wrinkles and creases, which affect functionality and comfort.

In this BMBF-funded project we analyse exoskeletal joint structures found in arthropods and develop bio-inspired concepts to improve protective exoskeletal structures.

This project is a collaboration with Fraunhofer IPA (Stuttgart), the University of Stuttgart, Ortema GmbHand DOI GmbH.

 

Bio-inspired underwater vehicle

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SAUV - Soft autonomous underwater vehicle

Autonomous and remotely operated underwater vehicles allow us to reach places which have previously been inaccessible and perform complex reparation, exploration and analysis tasks. As their navigation is not infallible, they may cause severe damage to themselves and their often quite fragile surroundings, such as flooded caves, coral reefs or even accompanying divers in case of a collision.
Instead of using rigid encasings, many unicellular organisms such as ciliates, bacteria or algae tolerate impacts. These organisms are only separated from their environment by a single membrane or mostly unsclerotized cell walls. Based on the concept of a “soft exoskeleton” we have developed a biologically inspired, soft and compliant encasing for an underwater vehicle. Our exoskeleton is a versatile and passive solution to protect both the vehicle and its surrounding.

Selected Publications

  • Bruns, C., Labisch, S. and Dirks, J.-H. (2022). 3D escape: an alternative paradigm for spatial orientation studies in insects. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-022-01574-x

    Stamm, K. and Dirks, J.-H. (2022). Semi-automated differentiation of insect exo- and endocuticle in X-ray microtomography. Arthropod Structure & Development 66, 101139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asd.2021.101139

    • Stamm, K, Saltin B. and Dirks, J.-H. (2021) Biomechanics of insect cuticle – an interdisciplinary experimental challenge. Applied Physics A - Biological and Biomimetic Materials, 127, 329
    • Sviben, S., Spaeker, O., Bennet, M., Alberic, M., Dirks, J.-H., Moussian, B., Fratzl, P., Bertinetti, L. and Politi, Y. (2020). Epidermal cell surface structure and chitin-protein co- assembly determine fiber architecture in the Locust cuticle. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, vol. 12(23), pp. 25581-25590

    • Schmidt, J., O'Neill, M., Dirks, J.-H. and Taylor, D. (2020). An Investigation of Crack Propagation in an Insect Wing Using the Theory of Critical Distances. Engineering and Fracture Mechanics, 232:107052
    • Rajabi, H., Dirks, J.-H. and Gorb, S. (2020). Insect wing damage: causes, consequences and compensatory mechanisms. Journal of Experimental Biology, 223:jeb215194
    • Plum, F., Labisch, S. and Dirks, J.-H. (2020). SAUV — A Bio-Inspired Soft-Robotic Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. Front. Neurorobot. 14, 1–13
    • Reichel, S. V., Labisch, S. and Dirks, J.-H. (2019) What goes up must come down: biomechanical impact analysis of falling locusts. Journal of Experimental Biology vol. 222 (selected as highlighted article July 2019)

    • Schwertmann, L., Focke, O. and Dirks, J.-H. (2019) Morphology, Shape Variation and Movement of Skeletal Elements in Starfish (Asterias rubens). Journal of Anatomy vol 234(5), pp. 656-667
    • Rajabi, H., Shafiei, A., Darvizeh, A., Gorb, S., Dürr, V. and Dirks, J.-H. (2018) Both stiff and compliant: morphological and biomechanical adaptations of stick insect antennae for tactile exploration. Journal of the Royal Society Interface vol. 15 (144)

    • Graf, C., Kesel, A., Gorb, E., Gorb, S. and Dirks, J.-H. (2018) Investigating the efficiency of a bio-inspired insect repellent surface structure. Bioinspiration and Biomimetics vol. 13(5)

    • Rajabi, H. Bazargan, P., Pourbabaei, A., Eshghi, Sh., Darvizeh, A., Gorb, S. N., Taylor, D. and Dirks, J.-H. (2017) Wing cross veins: an efficient biomechanical strategy to mitigate fatigue failure of insect cuticle Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology vol. 16(6), pp. 1947-1955

    • Rajabi, H. Jafarpour, M., Darvizeh, A. , Dirks, J.-H., S. N. Gorb (2017) Stiffness distribution in insect cuticle: a continuous or a discontinuous profile? Journal of the Royal Society Interface vol. 14(132)

    • Chen, W., Diao, Z., Dirks, J.-H., Geiger, F., Spatz, J. (2017) Enhanced Optical Transmittance by Reduced Reflectance of Curved Polymer Surfaces Macromolecular Materials and Engineering

    • Aberle, B., Jemmali, R. and Dirks, J.-H. (2017) Effect of sample treatment on biomechanical properties of insect cuticle Arthropod Structure & Development vol. 46(1), pp. 138-146
    • Parlé, E., Dirks, J.-H. and Taylor, D. (2017) Damage, repair and regeneration in insect cuticle: The story so far, and possibilities for the future Arthropod Structure & Development vol 46(1), pp. 49-55
    • Parlé, E., Dirks, J.-H., Taylor, D. (2016) Bridging the gap: wound healing in insects restores mechanical strength by targeted cuticle deposition Journal of the Royal Society Interface vol. 13(117), pp 20150984-7

    • Diao, Z., Kraus, M., Brunner, R., Dirks, J.-H. and Joachim P. Spatz, Nanostructured Stealth Surfaces for Visible and Near-Infrared Light, Nano Letters, vol. 16 (10), pp 6610-6616, 2016.
    • Rajabi, H., Shafiei, A., Darvizeh, A., Dirks, J.-H., Appel, E., Gorb, S.N. (2016) Effect of microstructure on the mechanical and damping behaviour of dragonfly wing veins Royal Society Open Science
    • Rajabi, H. Rezasefat, M., Darvizeh, A., Dirks, J.-H., Eshghi, Sh., Shafiei, A., Mirzababaie Mostofi, T. and Gorb, S.N. (2016) A comparative study of the effects of constructional elements on the mechanical behaviour of dragonfly wings Applied Physics A vol. 122(19)
    • Rajabi, H., Ghoroubi, N., Darvizeh, A., Dirks, J.-H., Appel, E. and Gorb, S.N. (2015) A comparative study of the effects of vein-joints on the mechanical behaviour of insect wings: I. Single joints Bioinspiration & Biomimetics 10(5)

    • Rajabi, H., Darvizeh A. , Shafiei, A., Taylor, D. and Dirks, J.-H. (2015) Numerical investigation of insect wing fracture behaviourJournal of Biomechanics, vol. 48(1), pp 89-94
    • Dirks, J.-H. (2014) Physical principles of fluid-mediated insect attachment - Shouldn't insects slip? Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnologie, vol. 5, pp 1160-1166
    • Dirks, J.-H., Parle, E. and Taylor, D. (2013) Fatigue of insect cuticle The Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 216, pp 1924-1927
    • Dirks, J.-H. and Taylor, D. (2012) Veins improve fracture toughness of insect wings PLoS ONE 7(8): e43411
    • Taylor, D. and Dirks, J.-H. (2012) Shape Optimization in exoskeletons and endoskeletons: a biomechanics analysis Journal of the Royal Society Interface, vol. 9 (77), pp 3480-3489
    • Dirks, J.-H., Li, M., Kabla, A. and Federle W. (2012) In vivo dynamics of the internal fibrous structure in smooth adhesive pads of insects Acta Biomaterialia, vol. 8 (7), pp 2730-2736
    • Dirks, J.H. and Taylor, D. (2012) Fracture toughness of locust cuticle The Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 215, pp 1502-1508 (selected as ‘Editor's choice‘ June 2012)
    • Dirks, J.-H. and Federle, W. (2011) Fluid-based adhesion in insects - principles and challenges Soft Matter, vol. 7, pp 11047-11053 (selected as ‘Hot Highlight‘ November 2011)
    • Dirks, J.-H. and Dürr, V. (2011) Biomechanics of the stick insect antenna: Damping properties and structural correlates of the cuticle Journal of the Mechanical Behaviour of Biomedical Materials, vol. 4 (8), pp 2031–2042
    • Peattie, A. M. , Dirks, J.-H., Henriques, S. and Federle, W. (2011) Arachnids secrete a fluid over their adhesive pads PLoS ONE 6 (5): e20485
    • Dirks, J.-H. and Federle, W. (2011) Mechanisms of fluid production in smooth adhesive pads of insects Journal of the Royal Society Interface, vol. 8 (60), pp 952-960
    • Dirks, J.-H., Clemente, C. and Federle, W. (2010). Insect tricks: two-phasic foot pad secretion prevents slipping Journal of the Royal Society Interface, vol. 7 (45), pp 587-593
    • Clemente, C., Dirks, J.-H., Barbero, D., Steiner, U. and Federle, W. (2009). Friction ridges in cockroach climbing pads: anisotropy of shear stress measured on transparent, microstructured substrates Journal of Comparative Physiology A, vol. 195 (9), pp 805-814

Media

    • Wie machen Pantoffeltierchen Unterwasserdrohnen flexibler? (PM Wissen, 2020)
    • Winner Bre3D award "Bionik & Design" 2019
    • Winner HSB-Innovation award 2018
    • Galileo TV (Pro 7) - Nature's tricks to improve your every day life
    • Beilstein TV - nano.AR – technical applications of biomimetic nanostructures
    • Students of the insects - Lessons from nature (Materials World
    • Why don‘t insect wings break? (Phys.org)
    • Locusts take the strain with veins waiting in the wings (Irish Times)
    • The Advantage of Veins (PLOS Blogs)
    • Warum zarte Insektenflügel nicht brechen (Wissenschaft aktuell)
    • Radio-interview with David Taylor on “Mooney goes wild“ (RTE one)
    • Landing locusts crash head first for speedier getaways (JEB)

    • Winner Zwick Science Award 2011

    • Locust Legs Stronger Than Iron (Huffington Post)

    • Insects covered in tough stuff (ScienceNews)

    • Insect Cuticle Tougher Than Bone (Inside JEB)

    • The secret to insect success: The cuticle (Radio Interview at Science Spinning, May 2012)

    • Researchers establish how super strong insect legs are (Phys.org)

    • Locust skeleton stronger than human bones (Knack.be)

    • How ware insects‘ legs stronger than ours (Irish Independent)

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