Sarah Stellwagen’s spider research featured on PBS North Carolina
Spider research led by Sarah Stellwagen, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, was featured on PBS North Carolina’s SCI NC segment “Walking Science.”
Spiders are often portrayed as frightening or villainous in the media, but Stellwagen hopes her work helps people see them differently.
“Spiders are very important for our ecosystem. They capture many, many insects during their lifespan,” Stellwagen said. “They’re providing free pest control for everyone, so they’re really wonderful creatures to have around.”
Stellwagen’s research, supported by a National Science Foundation grant, focuses on bioadhesives, the substances that make silk and spider webs sticky. One of her key tools is a sealed‑environment sample box built to her specifications by Joseph Dalton in Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science. The box allows her to examine silk and glue samples while precisely controlling humidity and temperature.
“We hope to find what gives these materials their properties so potentially one day we can mimic this stuff to use for clothing, ropes or, in the case of spider glues, maybe adhesives,” she said.
Learn more about the Stellwagen Research Lab.
Photos via PBS NC.