Researchers from the “Biomaterials” department recognized the slime as a promising natural material. “Snail mucus may seem unremarkable at first glance, but it is an incredibly versatile material,” says Dr. Franziska Jehle, the study’s corresponding author. The Building Blocks of Snail Mucus To understand how nature produces this diversity of materials, the researchers analyzed five different types of mucus. The researchers were surprised to identify collagen VI as a key component of the mucus. “Natural materials achieve an enormous variety of functions with just a few building blocks.