Lecture Explains How to Turn Jellyfish Into Sustainable Materials

Jellyfish are often perceived as an ecological threat, disrupting power plants, overrunning beaches, and harming fishing industries. But for Shachar Richter, professor of materials science and engineering at Tel Aviv University, they represent something completely different: a building block for the future of sustainable materials.

In a lecture hosted by Stony Brook University's Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Richter explained how his lab transforms proteins, collagen, and other biomasses into composites with applications in medicine, electronics, and agriculture. Most notably, his team has designed smart wound dressings and antibacterial coatings made largely from jellyfish.

"The overpopulation of jellyfish is a global problem," Richter said, noting the economic damage caused when jellyfish blooms clog industrial systems or deter tourism. Instead of seeing them as waste, he asks: How can they be turned into a resource?

Richter began his September 24 lecture with the fundamentals of his approach: proteins. From a material science perspective, he explained, proteins are remarkably versatile, complex three-dimensional structures that can be water-soluble, biodegradable, and biocompatible. Those qualities make them powerful raw materials for engineers seeking greener alternatives to plastics and synthetic compounds.

His lab uses bottom-up processes to manipulate proteins at the molecular level, creating nanocomposites with controlled size, shape, and function. That framework has enabled innovations ranging from light-emitting coatings to materials that harness photothermal effects: heating up under light to destroy harmful bacterial biofilms in hospitals.

"We can control the product of the size, shape, and density," Richter said. "That opens up opportunities for smart wound coatings and tissue engineering."

Among the most promising applications is wound care. Collagen, a structural protein abundant in jellyfish, is already a staple in the medical and cosmetic industries. But collagen sourced from mammals requires rigorous testing for safety. Jellyfish collagen bypasses those concerns while offering a renewable alternative.

Richter's team has developed a multilayer wound dressing almost entirely from jellyfish. The base layer is made of nanofibers, the middle incorporates silver nanoparticles for antibacterial protection, and the top maintains humidity for healing. Early trials suggest the dressing performs better than some commercial alternatives.

The applications are not just academic, Richter said. "We have already partnered with a company to explore commercialization."

Graduate students in attendance said the talk reflected the technical breadth of the colloquium series, even if its focus didn't align with everyone's research.

"Compared to some of the research done at Stony Brook, this one was more material science-based," said Vasu Persaud, a master's student in chemical and molecular engineering. "My research is in hydrogen storage, so it wasn't directly applicable to me. But for students working on proteins and nanoparticles, it was very useful."

The weekly colloquium is a requirement for master's and PhD students in chemical engineering and materials science. Faculty invite guest speakers from around the world to connect outside expertise with the department's ongoing projects.

Richter emphasized that his research is not limited to the lab. His group works with Israel's national electric company, which collects jellyfish that wash up at power plants. The collaboration ensures a steady, sustainable supply while addressing an ecological hazard.

Still, he acknowledged challenges. Some of the processes his team develops, though effective in controlled settings, remain difficult to scale commercially. Industry adoption, he said, depends on proving that renewable materials can match or exceed the performance of conventional ones at competitive costs.

Even so, Richter remains optimistic. With dozens of patents, startup ventures, and international collaborations to his name, he has watched ideas once confined to theory move into practice. Jellyfish-based composites, he argued, could follow the same path.

"Proteins are one of the most important features that exist from our point of view of material science," he told the audience. "And jellyfish are a very old creature, very resilient and very tough."

- Lily Miller