Patent ID: 7303646

Claim:
Method for attaching two surfaces to each other consisting of the steps of a) providing a bioadhesive composition consisting of an aqueous solution of a bioadhesive polyphenolic, byssus-forming mussel protein, which protein comprises 30-300 amino acids and consists essentially of tandemly linked peptide repeats comprising 3-15 amino acid residues, wherein at least 3% of the amino acid residues of said bioadhesive polyphenolic protein are L-3.4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA), wherein the concentration of said bioadhesive polyphenolic protein in said bioadhesive composition is within the range of 10-50 mg/ml; b) providing a strongly alkaline solution with a pH of 10 or more; c) (i) mixing said composition and said strongly alkaline solution and applying the mixture to at least one of two surfaces to be attached to each other or (ii) applying said composition and said strongly alkaline solution sequentially, without any specific order, to at least one of two surfaces to be attached to each other, thereby mixing the bioadhesive composition and the strongly alkaline solution; d) joining said surfaces to each other; and e) leaving said surfaces for sufficiently long time for curing to occur and to produce two surfaces attached to each other, said method being conducted in the absence of an oxidizing agent.