Targeting medical treatment to an ailing body part is a practice as old as medicine itself. A Band-Aid is placed on a skinned knee. Drops go into itchy eyes. A broken arm goes into a cast.
But often what ails us is inside the body and is not so easy to reach. In such cases, a treatment like surgery or chemotherapy might be called for. A pair of researchers in Caltech’s Division of Engineering and Applied Science are working on an entirely new form of treatment–microrobots that can deliver drugs to specific spots inside the body while being monitored and controlled from outside the body.
“The microrobot concept is really cool because you can get micromachinery right to where you need it,” says Lihong Wang, Caltech’s Bren Professor of Medical Engineering and Electrical Engineering.
“It could be drug delivery, or a predesigned microsurgery.”
The microrobots are a joint research project of Wang and Wei Gao, assistant professor of medical engineering, and are intended for treating tumors in the digestive tract.
The microrobots consist of microscopic spheres of magnesium metal coated with thin layers of gold and parylene, a polymer that resists digestion. The layers leave a circular portion of the sphere uncovered, kind of like a porthole. The uncovered portion of the magnesium reacts with the fluids in the digestive tract, generating small bubbles. The stream of bubbles acts like a jet and propels the sphere forward until it collides with nearby tissue.
On their own, magnesium spherical microrobots that can zoom around might be interesting, but they are not especially useful. To turn them from a novelty into a vehicle for delivering medication, Wang and Gao made some modifications to them.
Image Credit: Caltech
News This Week
The basic mechanisms of visual attention emerged over 500 million years ago, study suggests
The brain does not need its sophisticated cortex to interpret the visual world. A new study published in PLOS Biology demonstrates that a much older structure, the superior colliculus, contains the necessary circuitry to perform the [...]
AI Is Overheating. This New Technology Could Be the Fix
Engineers have developed a passive evaporative cooling membrane that dramatically improves heat removal for electronics and data centers Engineers at the University of California San Diego have created an innovative cooling system designed to greatly enhance [...]
New nanomedicine wipes out leukemia in animal study
In a promising advance for cancer treatment, Northwestern University scientists have re-engineered the molecular structure of a common chemotherapy drug, making it dramatically more soluble and effective and less toxic. In the new study, [...]
Mystery Solved: Scientists Find Cause for Unexplained, Deadly Diseases
A study reveals that a protein called RPA is essential for maintaining chromosome stability by stimulating telomerase. New findings from the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggest that problems with a key protein that helps preserve chromosome stability [...]
Nanotech Blocks Infection and Speed Up Chronic Wound Recovery
A new nanotech-based formulation using quercetin and omega-3 fatty acids shows promise in halting bacterial biofilms and boosting skin cell repair. Scientists have developed a nanotechnology-based treatment to fight bacterial biofilms in wound infections. The [...]
Researchers propose five key questions for effective adoption of AI in clinical practice
While Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a powerful tool that physicians can use to help diagnose their patients and has great potential to improve accuracy, efficiency and patient safety, it has its drawbacks. It [...]
Advancements and clinical translation of intelligent nanodrugs for breast cancer treatment
A comprehensive review in "Biofunct. Mater." meticulously details the most recent advancements and clinical translation of intelligent nanodrugs for breast cancer treatment. This paper presents an exhaustive overview of subtype-specific nanostrategies, the clinical benefits [...]
It’s Not “All in Your Head”: Scientists Develop Revolutionary Blood Test for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
A 96% accurate blood test for ME/CFS could transform diagnosis and pave the way for future long COVID detection. Researchers from the University of East Anglia and Oxford Biodynamics have created a highly accurate [...]
How Far Can the Body Go? Scientists Find the Ultimate Limit of Human Endurance
Even the most elite endurance athletes can’t outrun biology. A new study finds that humans hit a metabolic ceiling at about 2.5 times their resting energy burn. When ultra-runners take on races that last [...]
World’s Rivers “Overdosing” on Human Antibiotics, Study Finds
Researchers estimate that approximately 8,500 tons of antibiotics enter river systems each year after passing through the human body and wastewater treatment processes. Rivers spanning millions of kilometers across the globe are contaminated with [...]
Yale Scientists Solve a Century-Old Brain Wave Mystery
Yale scientists traced gamma brain waves to thalamus-cortex interactions. The discovery could reveal how brain rhythms shape perception and disease. For more than a century, scientists have observed rhythmic waves of synchronized neuronal activity [...]
Can introducing peanuts early prevent allergies? Real-world data confirms it helps
New evidence from a large U.S. primary care network shows that early peanut introduction, endorsed in 2015 and 2017 guidelines, was followed by a marked decline in clinician-diagnosed peanut and overall food allergies among [...]
Nanoparticle blueprints reveal path to smarter medicines
Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are the delivery vehicles of modern medicine, carrying cancer drugs, gene therapies and vaccines into cells. Until recently, many scientists assumed that all LNPs followed more or less the same blueprint, [...]
How nanomedicine and AI are teaming up to tackle neurodegenerative diseases
When I first realized the scale of the challenge posed by neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), I felt simultaneously humbled and motivated. These disorders are not caused [...]
Self-Organizing Light Could Transform Computing and Communications
USC engineers have demonstrated a new kind of optical device that lets light organize its own route using the principles of thermodynamics. Instead of relying on switches or digital control, the light finds its own [...]
Groundbreaking New Way of Measuring Blood Pressure Could Save Thousands of Lives
A new method that improves the accuracy of interpreting blood pressure measurements taken at the ankle could be vital for individuals who are unable to have their blood pressure measured on the arm. A newly developed [...]
Leave A Comment