Research Group »Adaptive Fibrous Materials«

What is being researched?
The research group is interested in interactions between fibrous biological material and its environment. The fact that plants are sessile makes them particularly relevant regarding their adaptability and optimization strategies.

In plants, remodeling processes such as those found in the animal kingdom are absent. Instead, adaptation takes place by growth. Interestingly, a large proportion of the newly grown cells dies after a short period of time in order to take over the function of water transportation or mechanical support. Over time, the properties and functions of these dead cells may alter. In addition, they are subject to change through temperature and humidity of the environment. This ability requires an intrinsic activity of the material. Prominent examples are wood swelling and shrinkage, and seed capsule opening or seed dispersal, which becomes active upon an environmental trigger.
This research is not restricted to plants: other fibrous materials such as site-bound nests of African wild silk moths are also studied.

The goal is to gain a deeper understanding of material activity as well as adaptational and optimizational strategies. Material properties and their dependence on developmental stages (growth) and the environmental conditions in the field or the lab are examined. The results provide information about functions of the organism and hint at how changing environmental conditions affect the organism. Furthermore, they offer fundamental knowledge for usage and applications of biogenic materials, while extracted material concepts can serve as inspiration for biomimetic applications.

Who and what disciplines are involved:
The team combines materials science tools at various length scales and design experiments. This enables interdisciplinary collaborations with social scientists, architects and designers, allowing for comprehensive consideration and discussion of the research topics in question.

Led by Michaela Eder, the group includes:

An overview of publications by each group member can be found on the website of Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces.

These are examples of previous projects and activities:


• The »Bark Project« – design experiments and basic research towards the use of bark, a waste material. Development of panels, glaces and textiles. Charlett Wenig and Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten won 2nd place in the »Junge Akademie« ideas competition in August with this project. See here for more information.
• Moisture dependent swelling and mechanical properties of wood
• Opening mechanisms of Banksia seed pods
• Characterization of African wild silk nests
• Supporting other MoA researchers and their projects (eg. in-situ ESEM swelling experiments of bacterial biofilms by Iva Rešetar and Bastian Beyer)
• Teaching at the weissensee school of art and design, together with weissensee and MoA colleagues: summer term 2020 Scaling Nature 3, winter term 2020/21 »Designing Matter«
• Teaching at the HU Berlin, Biology and Biophysics
• Teaching at the Hochschule für Künste, Bremen